IX 

30 

162.6. 



^qr> 






HI 









: k 



HUB 



m 



.1 • *ti 



Hi 



& 







,.".*-—-. 



"bMvv*^ 




Glass /-^C- So 



Book 



>W, 



PRESENTED BY 



-JS3*to_ 



J£U£5 WVOkZLJ&SSM 



% 



IMPROVEMENT 



OF THE 



BY ISAAC WATTS, D< D* 



TO WHICH ARE ADDED$ 

QUESTIONS ADAPTED TO THE WORK; 

FOR 
THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES^ 

u Few books have been peruSt d by me with greater pleasure than Dr., 
Watts's Improvement of the Mind; of which the radical principles may 
indeed be found in Locke's Conduct of the Understanding ; but they ale 
so expanded and ramified by Watts, as to confer on him the merit of a 
work in the highest degree useful and pleasing* Whoever has the care 
of instructing others may be charged with deficiency in his duty if thi3 
book is not recommended." Dr. Johnson's Life of Dr. Watts* 

Loring's THIRD Boston Edition. 



Mouton: 

PRINTED AND SOLD BY JAMES LORIN6, 
No. 132, Washington Street. 



1826, 



O* The following pages contain the whole of the 
First Part of Dr. Watts's Improvement of the Mind. This 
is believed to be sufficiently complete in itself, without 
the Second Part, and more particularly suited to the ca- 
pacities of Young Persons. Both Parts might render the 
Work too expensive for many scholars, and thus exclude 
the whole from use. As this First Part was originally 
published in a separate volume, it is plain that the excel- 
lent Author did not consider it as having any indispens- 
able connexion with the Second. 



DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit . 

District Clerk's Office. 

4^vw4» BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the eighteenth day of 
5 < November, A. U. 1819, and in the forty-fifth year of the inde- 

$ 1"». J pendence of the United States of America, JAMES LO- 

.^.iw*^ KING, of the said District, has deposited in this Office the 

title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words 

following, to wit: 

The Improvement of the Mind. By ISAAC WATTS, D.D. To which 
are added, Questions adapted to the Work ; for the use of Schools and 
Academies. 

«* Few books have been perused by me with greater pleasure than Dr. 
Watts's Improvement of the Mind ; of which the radical principles may 
indeed be found in Locke's Conduct of the Understanding ; but they are 
so expanded and ramified by Watts, as to confer on him the merit of a 
work in the highest degree useful and pleasing. Whoever has the care 
of instructing others may be 6harged with deficiency in his dut> if this 
book is not recommended." Dr. Johnson's Life of Dr. Watts. 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, 
*' An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies 
of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such cop- 
ies, during the times therein mentioned :" and also to an Act, entitled, 
" An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the Encour- 
agement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and 
Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times 
therein mentioned; and extending the Benefit* thereof to the Arts of 
Designing, Engraving, and Etching Historical, and other Prints." 

JOHN W. DAVIS, 
Cterjc of the District of Massachusetts. 










y&3 



PREFACE. 



THE present Treatise, if it may assume the honour of that name, is 
made up of a variety of remarks and directions for the improvement off 
the mind in useful knowledge. It was collected from the observations 
which I had made on my own studies, and on the temper and sentiments, 
the humour and conduct of other men in their pursuit of learning, or in 
the affairs of life; and it has been considerably assisted by occasional col- 
lections, in the course of my reading,from many authors on different sub- 
jects. I confess, in far the greatest part, I stand bound to answer for the 
weaknesses or defects that will be found in these papers, not being able to 
point to other writers whence the twentieth part of them are derived. 

The work was composed at different times, and by slow degrees. Now 
and then, indeed, it spread itself into branches and leaves, like a plant in 
April, and advanced seven or eight pages in a week : and sometimes it 
lay by without growth, like a vegetable in the winter, and did not in- 
crease half so much in the revolution of a year. 

As these thoughts occurred to me in reading or meditation, or in my 
notices of the various appearances of things amongst mankind, they were 
thrown under those heads which make the present titles of the chapters* 
and were by degrees reduced to something like a method, such as the sub- 
ject would admit. 

On these accounts, it is not to be expected that the same accurate order 
should be observed, either in the whole book, or in the particular chapter 
thereof, which is necessary in the system of any scienee whose scheme is 
projected at once. A book which has been twenty years a writing may 
be indulged in some variety of style and manner ,though I hope there will 
not be found any great difference of sentiment ; for wherein I had im-> 
proved in latter years, beyond what I had first written, a few dashes and 
alterations have corrected the mistakes : and if the candour ofthe read- 
er will but allow what is defective in one place to be supplied by addi- 
tions from another, I hope there will be found a sufficient reconciliation 
of what might seem, at first, to be scarcely consistent. 

The language and dress of these sentiments is such as the present tem- 
per of mind dictated.whether it were grave or pleasant,severe or smiling. 
If there has been any thing expressed with too much severity, I suspect it 
will be found to fall upon those sneering or daring writers of the age 



1* PREFACE. 

against religion and against the Christian scheme, who seem to have left 
reason, or decency, or both behind them, in some of their writings. 

The same apology of the length of years in composing this book, may 
serve also to excuse a repetition of the same sentiments which may happen 
to he found in different places without the author's design ; but in other 
pages it was intended, so that those rules, for the conduct of the under- 
standing, which are most necessary, should be set in several lights, that 
they might, with more frequency, and more force, impress the soul. I 
shall be sufficiently satisfied with the good humour and lenity of my read- 
ers, if they will please to regard these papers as parcels of imperfect 
sketches, which were designed by a sudden pencil, and in a thousand leis- 
ure moments, to be, one day, collected into landscapes of some little pros- 
pects in the regions of learning,and in the world of common life,pointing 
out the fairest and most fruitful spots, as well as the rocks, and wilder- 
nesses, and faithless morasses of the country. But I feel age advancing 
tipon me ; and my health is insufficient to perfect what I had designed, 
to increase and amplify these remarks, to confirm and improve these 
rules, and to illuminate the several pages with a richer and more beauti- 
ful variety of examples. The subject is almost endless ; and new writers 
in the present, and in the following ages, may still find sufficient follies, 
weaknesses, and dangers, among mankind, to be represented in such a 
manner as to guard youth against them. 

These hints, such as they are, I hope may be rendered some way useful 
to persons in younger years, who will favour them with a perusal, and 
"who would seek the cultivation of their own understandings in the early 
days of life. Perhaps they may find something here which may wake a 
latent genius and direct the studies of a willing mind. Perhaps it may 
point out to a student, now and then, what may employ the most useful 
labours of his thoughts, and accelerate his diligence in the most moment- 
ous inquiries, Perhaps a sprightly youth might here meet with something 
to guard or warn him against mistakes, and withhold him, at other times, 
from those pursuits which are likely to be fruitless and disappointing. 

Let it he observed also, that, in our age, several of the ladies pursue 
science with success ; and others of them are desirous of improving their 
reason, even in the common affairs of life, as well as the men : yet the 
characters which are here drawn occasionally are almost universally ap- 
plied to one sex: but if any of the other shall find a character which 
suits them, they may, by a small change of the termination, apply and 
assume it to themselves, and accept the instruction, the admonition, ov 
the applause, which is designed in it* 



THE 

IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND. 

Directions for the Attainment of useful Knowledge, 
INTRODUCTION. 

NO man is obliged to learn and know every thing ; 
this can neither be sought nor required, for it is utter- 
ly impossible ; yet all persons are under some obliga- 
tion to improve their own understanding ; otherwise it 
will be a barren desert,or a forest overgrown with weeds 
and brambles. Universal ignorance or infinite errors 
will overspread the mind, which is utterly neglected, 
and lies without any cultivation. 

Skill in the sciences is indeed the business and pro- 
fession but of a small part of mankind ; but there are 
many others placed in such an exalted rank in the 
world, as allows them much leisure and large oppor- 
tunities to cultivate their reason, and to beautify and 
enrich their minds with various knowledge. Even the 
lower orders ot men have particular callings in life, 
wherein they ought to acquire a just degree of skill ; 
and this is not to be done well, without thinking and 
reasoning about them. 

The common duties and benefits of society, which 
belo g to every man living, as we are social creatures, . 
and even our native and necessary relations to a fami- 
ly, a neighbourhood, or government, oblige all per- 
sons whatsoever to use their reasoning power* upon a 
thousand occasions ; every hour of life calls for some 
regular exercise of our judgment as to times and things, 
persons and actions ; without a prudent and discreet 
determination in matters before us, we shall be plung- 
ed into perpetual errors in cur conduct. Now that 
A 2 



(5 INTRODUCTION. 

which should always be practised, must at some time 
be learnt. 

Besides, every son and daughter of Adam has a most 
important concern in the affairs of a life to come, and 
therefore it is a matter of the highest moment for ev- 
ery one to understand, to judge, and to reason right 
about the things of religion. I? is in vain for any to 
sav, we have no leisure or time for it. The d tilv inter- 
vals of time, and vacancies from necessary labour, to» 
gether with the one day in seven in the Christian world, 
allows sufficient time for this, if men would but apply 
themselves to it with half so much zeal and diligence 
as they do to the trifles and amusements of this life ; 
and it would turn to infinitely better account. 

Thus it appears to be the necessarv duty, and the in- 
terest of everv -person living, to improve his under- 
standing, to inform his judgment, to treasure up useful 
knowledge, and to acquire the skill of good reasoning, 
as far as his station, capacity, and circumstances fur- 
nish him with proper means for it. Our mistakes in 
judgment may plunge us into much folly and guilt in 
practice. By acting without thought or reason, we 
dishonour the God who made us reasonable creatures, 
we often become injurious to our neighbours, kindred, 
or friends, and we bring sin and misery upon ourselves: 
For we are accountable to God, our judge, for every 
part of our irregular and mistaken conduct, where he 
hath given us sufficient advantages to guard against 
those mistakes. 
-" -•■- It is the design of Logic to give this improvement to 
the mind, and to teach us the right use of reason in the 
acquirement and communication of all useful knowl- 
edge ; though the greatest part of writers on that sub- 
ject have turned it into a composition of hard words, 
trifles, and subtleties, for the mere use of the schools, 
and that only to amuse the minds and the ears of men 
with empty sounds, which flatter their vnnity, and puff 
up their pride with a pompous and glittering show of 
false learning ; and thus they have perverted the great 
and valuable design of that science. 

A few modern writers have endeavoured to recover 
the honour of Logic, since that excellent author of the 
Art of Thinking led the way./ Among the rest, I have 
presumed to make an attempt of the same kind, in a 
treatise published several years ago, . v a.erein it was 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

my constant aim to assist the reasoning powers of ev- 
ery rank and order of men, as well as to keep an eye 
to the best interest of the schools, and the candidates 
of true learning, v There I have endeavoured to show 
the mistakes we are exposed to in our conception, 
judgment, and reasoning ; and pointed to the various 
springs of them. I have also laid down many general 
and particular rules how to escape error, and attain 
truth in matters of the civil and religious life, as well 
as in the sciences. 

But there are several other observations very per- 
tinent to this purpose, which have not fallen so direct- 
ly under any of those heads of discourse, or at least 
they would have swelled that treatise to an improper 
size ; and therefore I have made a distinct collection 
of them here out of various authors, as well as from 
my own observation, and set them down under the fol- 
lowing heads. 

The learned world, who have done so much unmer- 
ited honour to that logical treatise, as to receive it into 
our two flourishing Universities, may possibly admit 
this as a second part 6r supplement to that treatise. 
And I may venture to persuade myself, that if the 
common and the busy ranks of mankind, as well as 
the scholar and the gentleman, would but transcribe 
m such rules into their understanding, and practise them 
* upon all occasions, there*"would be much more truth 
and knowledge found among men ; and it is reasona- 
ble to hope that justice, virtue, and goodness would at- 
tend as the happy consequents. » 

CHAPTER I. 

General Rules for the Improvement of Knowledge? 

Rule I. 

J DEEPLY possess your mind with the vast impor- 
tance of a good judgment, and the rich and inestima. 

* Though the most of these following rules are chiefly addressed to 
those whom their fortune or their station requires to addict themselves to 
the particular improvement of their minds in greater degrees of knowl- 
edge ; yet every one who has leisure and opportunity to be acquainted 
with such writings as these, may find something among them for their 
own use. 



8 GENERAL RULES TO 

ble advantage of right reasoning. Review the instan- 
ces of your own misconduct in life; think seriously 
with yourselves how many follies and sorrows you had 
escaped, and how much guilt and misery you had pre- 
vented, if from your early years you had but taken 
due pains to judge aright concerning persons, times, 
and things. This will awaken you with lively vigour 
to address yourselves to the work of improving your 
reasoning powers, and seizing every opportunity and 
advantage for that end. 

Rule II. Consider the weakness, frailties, and 
mistakes of human nature in general, which arise from 
the very constitution of a soul united to an animal body, 
and subjected to many inconveniencies thereby. Con- 
sider the many additional weaknesses, mistakes, and 
frailties, which are derived from our original apostasy and 
fallfrom a state of innocence; how much our powers of 
understanding are yet more darkened, enfeebled, and 
imposed upon by our senses, our fancies, and our un- 
ruly passions, &c. Consider the depth and difficulty 
of many truths, and the flattering appearances of 
falsehood, whence arises an infinite variety of dangers 
to which we are exposed in our judgment of things. 
i Read with greediness those authors that treat of the 
I doctrine of prejudices, prepossessions, and springs of 
error, on purpose to make your soul watchful on all 
sides, that it suffer itself, as far as possible, to be 
imposed upon bv none of them. See more on this sub- 
ject, Logic, Part II. Chap. 3, and Part III. Chap. 3. 

Rule III. A slight view of things so momentous is 
not sufficient. You should therefore contrive and prac- 
tise some proper methods to acquaint yourself with 
your own ignorance, and to impress your mind with a 
deep and painful sense of the low and imperfect degrees 
of your present knowledge, that you may be incited 
with labour and activity to pursue after greater meas- 
ures. Among others, you may find some such methods 
as these successful. 

1. Take a wide survey now and then, of the vast 
and unlimited regions of learning. Let vour meditations 
run over the names of all the sciences, with their nu- 
merous branchings, and innumerable particular themes 
of knowledge ; and then reflect how few of them you 
are acquainted with in any tolerable degree. The 
most learned of mortals will never find occasion to 



OBTAIN KNOWLEDGE. 9 

act over again, what is fabled of Alexander the Great, 
that when he had conquered what was called the East- 
ern World, he wept tor want of more worlds to con- 
quer. The worlds of science are immense and endless. 

2. Think what a numberless variety of questions and 
difficulties there are belonging even to that particular 
science in which you have made the greatest progress, 
and how few of them there are in which you have ar- 
rived at a final and undoubted certainty ; excepting 
only those questions in the pure and simple mathemat- 
ics, whose theorems are demonstrable and leave scarce- 
ly any doubt ; and yet even in the pursuit of some few 
of these, mankind have been strangely bewildered. 

3. Spend a few thoughts sometimes on the puzzling 
inquiries concerning vacuums and atoms, the doctrine 
of infinities, indivisibles, and incommensurables in ge- 
ometry, wherein there appear some insolvable diffi- 
culties. Do this on purpose to give you a more sensible 
impression of the poverty of your understanding, and 
the imperfection or your knowledge. This will teach 
yon what a vain thing it is to fancy that you know all 
things ; and will instruct you to think mrdestlv of your 
present attainments, when every dust of the earth, and 
every inch of empty space, surmounts y ur understand- 
ing and triumphs over your presumption. Arithmo 
had been bred up to accounts all his life, and thought 
himself a complete master of numbers. But when he 
was pushed hard to give the square root of the num- 
ber 2. he tried at it, 2nd laboured long in nillesimal 
fractions, until he confessed there was no end ot ihe in- 
quiry ; and yet he learned so much modesty by this 
perplexing question, that he was afraid to say it was 
an impossible thing. It is some good degree of im- 
provement when we are afraid to be positive. 

4. Read the accounts of those vast treasures of 
knowledge which some of the dead have poss ssed, and 
which some of the living do possess. Read and be as- 
tonished at the almost incredible advances which have 
been made in science. Acquaint yourselves with some 
persons of learning, that by converse among them, and 
comparing yourselves with them, you may acquire a 
mean opinion of your own attainments, and may be 
thereby animated with new zeal, to equal them as far 
as possible, or to exceed : thus let your diligence be 
Quickened by a generous and laudable emulation. It 



10 GENERAL RULES TO 

Vanillus had never met with Scuorio and Polydes, he 
had never imagined himself a mere novice in Philoso- 
phy, nor ever set himself to study in good earnest. 

Remember this, that if upon some few superficial ac- 
quirements, you value, exalt, and swell yourself, as 
though you were a man of learning already, you are 
thereby building a most unpassable barrier against all 
improvement ; you will lie down and indulge idleness, 
and rest yourself contented in the midst of deep and 
shameful ignorance. Mulct ud scientiam fiervmissent 
si seilluc fierv-nisse non putassent ■ 

Rule IV. Presume not too much upon a bright 
genius, a ready wit, and good parts, for these without 
labour and study will never make a man of knowledge 
and wisdom. This has been an unhappy temptation 
to persons of a vigorous and gay fancy to despise learn- 
ing and study. They have been acknowledged to 
shine in an assembly, and sparkle in a discourse upon 
common topics, and thence they took it into their heads 
to abandon reading and labour, and grow old in igno- 
rance ; but when they had lost the vivacities of animal 
nature and youth, they became stupid and sottish even 
to contempt and ridicule. Lucidas and Scintillo are 
young men of this stamp f they shine in conversation, 
they spread their native riches before the ignorant; 
they pride themselves in their own lively images of 
fancy, and imagine themselves wise and learnod ; but 
they had best avoid the presence of the skilful, and the 
test of reasoning ; and I would advise them once a day 
to think forward a little, what a contemptible figure 
they will make in age. 

The witty men sometimes have sense enough to 
know their own foible, and therefore they craftily shun 
the attacks of argument, or boldly pretend to despise 
and renounce them ; because they are conscious of 
their own ignorance, and inwardly confess their want 
of acquaur ance with the skill of reasoning 

Rule V As you are not to fancy vourself a learn- 
ed man. because you are blessed with a ready wit, so 
neither must you imagine that large and laborious 
reading, and a strong memory, can denominate you 
truly wise. 

What that excellent critic has determined when he 
decided the question, whether wit or study makes the 



OBTAIN KNOWLEDGE. 11 

best poet, may well be applied to every sort of learn- 
ing y 

„ Ego nee sHidium sine divite vena, 

Fee ru,de quid prosit, video ihgenium : alterius sic 

Altera poscit opem res, et conjurat amice. 

Hor. de Art. Poet. 

THUS MADE ENGLISH: 

Concerning poets there has been contest, 

*Whether they're made by art or nature best! 

But if I may presume in this affair, 

Among the rest my judgment to declare, 

No art without a genius will avail, 

And parts without the help of art will fail : 

But both ingredients jointly must unite, 

Or verse will never shine with a transcendent light. 

Oldham. 

It is meditation and studious thought, it is the exer^ 
cise of your own reascn and judgment upon all you read, 
that gives good sense even to the best genius, and af- 
fords your understanding the truest improvement. A. 
boy of a strong memory may repeat a whole book of 
Euciid, yet be no Geometrician ; for he may not be 
able perhaps to demonstrate one single theorem. Me- 
morino has learnt half the Bible by heart, and is be- 
come a living concoTdan.ee, and a speaking index to ) 
theological folios, and yet. he understands little of dj- / / 
vinity. 

A wrll furnished library and a capacious memory 
are ind ed of singular use towards the improvement 
of the mind ; but if all your learning be nothing else 
but a mere amassment of what others have written, 
without a due penetration into their meanings, and 
wi'hout a judicious choice and determination of your 
own sentiments, I do not see what title your head has 
to true lelarning above your shelves. Though you 
have read Philosophy and Theology, Morals and Met- 
aphysics in abundance, and every other art and sci- 
ence, yet if your memory is the only faculty employ- 
ed, with the neglect of your reasoning powers, you can 
justly claim no higher character than that of a good 
his orian of the sciences. 

Here note. Many of the foregoing advices are more 
peculiarly proper for those who are conceited of their 
abilities, and are ready to entertain a high opinion of 
themselves. But a modest, humble \cuth, of a good 
genius, should not sutler himself to be discouraged by 



12 GENERAL RULES TO 

any of these considerations. They are designed only 
as a spur to diligence, and a guard against vanity and 
pride. 

Rule VI. Be not so weak as to imagine, that a 
life of learning is a life of laziness and ease. Dare not 
give up yourself to any of the learned professions, un- 
less you are resolved to labour hard at study, and can 
make it your delight, and the joy of your life, accord- 
ing to the motto of our late Lord Chancellor King, 
Labor ifise volufitas. 

It is no idle thing to be a scholar indeed. A man 
much addicted to luxury and pleasure, recreation and 
pastime, should never pretend to devote himself entire- 
ly to the sciences, unless his soul be so reformed and 
refined, that he can taste all these entertainments emi- 
nently in his closet, among his books and papers. So- 
brino is a temperate man and a philosopher, and he 
feeds upon partridge and pheasant, venison and ra- 
gouts, and every delicacy, in a growing understanding, 
and a serene and healthy sou!, though he dines on a 
dish of sprouts or turnips. Languinos loved his ease, 
and therefore chose to be brought up a scholar; he 
had much indolence in his temper, and as he never 
cared for study, he falls under universal contempt in 
his profession, because he has nothing but the gown 
and the name. 

Rule VII. Let the hope of new discoveries, as 
well as the satisfaction and pleasui e of known truths, 
animate your daily industry. Do not think learning 
in general is arrived at its perfection, or that the 
knowledge of any particular subject in any science can- 
not be improved, merely because it has lain five hun- 
dred or a thousand years without improvement. The 
present age, by the blessing of God on the ingenuity 
and diligence of men, has brought to light such truths 
in natural philosophy, and such discoveries in the 
heavens and the earth, as seemed to be beyond the 
reach of man. But may there not be Sir Isaac New- 
tons in every science ? You should never despair there- 
fore of finding out that which has never yet been 
found, unless you s^e something in the nature of it 
which renders it unsearchable, and above the reach of 
our faculties. 

Nor should a student in divinity imagine that oar age 
is arrived at a full understanding of every thing which 



OBTAIN KNOWLEDGE. 13 

Can be known by the- Scriptures. Every ap-e since 
the Reformation has thrown some fun her Tight on 
difficult texts and paragraphs of the Bible, which have 
been long obscured by the early rise of antichrist ; and 
since there are at present many difficulties and dark- 
nesses hanging about certain truths of the Christian Re- 
ligion, and since several of these relate to important 
doctrines, such as the Origin of Sin, the Fall of Adam 
the Person of Christ, the blessed Trinity, the Decrees 
of God, 8cc. which do still embarrass the minds of hon- 
est and enquiring readers, and which make work for 
noisy controversy ; it is certain there are several things 
in the Bible yet unknown and not sufficiently explain- 
ed, and it is certain that there is some way to solve these 
difficulties, and to reconcile these seeming Contradic- 
tions. Arjd why may not a since re searcher of truth 
in the present age, by labour, diligence, study and 
prayer, with the best use of his reasoning powers, find 
out the proper solution of those knots and perplexities 
which have hitherto been unsolved, and which have 
affirded matter for angry quarrelling; happy is every 
man who shall be favoured of Heaven to give a help- 
ing hand towards the introduction of the° blessed age 
of light and love. / 

Rule VIII. Do not always hover on the surface 
of things, nor take up suddenly, with mere appearan- 
ces ; but penetrate into the depth of matters, as far as 
your time and circumstances allow, especially in those 
things which relate to your own profession. Do not 
indulge yourselves to judge of tilings by the first 
glimpse, or a short and superficial view of them ; for 
this will fill the mind with errors and prejudices, give 
it a wrong turn and ill habit of thinking, and 'make 
much work for retraction. Subito is carried away 
with title pages, so that he ventures to pronounce up- 
on a large octavo at once, and to recommend it won- 
derfully, when he has read half the preface. Another 
volume of controversies of equal size was discarded by 
him at once, because it pretended to treat of the Trin- 
ity, and yet he could neither find the word essence, 
nor subsistencies in the twelve first pages ; but Subito 
changes his opinions of men, and book's, and things so 
often, that nobody regards him. 

As for those sciences, or tiiose parts of knowledge, 
which either your profession, your leisure, your ineli- 
B 



14 GENERAL RULES TO 

nation, or your incapacity, forbids you to pursue with 
much application, or to search far into them, you must 
be contented with an historical and superficial know- 
ledge of them, and not pretend to form any judgments 
of your own, on those subjects which you understand 
very imperfectly. 

Rule IX. Once a day, especially in the early years 
of life and study, call yourselves to an account what 
new ideas, what new proposition or truth you have 
gained, what further confirmation of known truths, 
and what advances you have made in any part of 
knowledge ; and let no day, if possible, pass away 
without some intellectual gain ; such a course, well 
pursued, must certainly advance us in useful know- 
ledge. It is a wise proverb among the learned, bor- 
rowed from the lips and practice of a celebrated 
painter, Nulla dies sine linea; let no day pass without 
one. line at least; and it was a sacred rule among the 
Pythagoreans, that they should every evening thrice 
run over the actions and affairs of the day, and exam- 
ine what their conduct had been, what they had done, 
or what they had neglected ; and they assured their 
pupils that by this method they would make a noble 
progress in the path of virtue. 

Nor let soft slumber close your eyes, 
Before you've recollected thrice 
The train of actions through the day : 
Where have my feet chose out their way ? 
What have I learnt, where'er I've been, 
From all I've heard, from all I've seen ? 
What know I more thaf s worth the knowing ? 
What have I done that's worth the doing ? 
What have I sought that I should shun ? 
What duty have I left undone ? 
Or into what new follies run ? 
These self inquiries are the road 
That leads to virtue, and to God . 

I would be glad, among a nation of Christians, to find 
young men heartily engaged in the practice of what 
this heathen writer teaches. 

Rule X. Maintain a constant watch at all times 
against a dogmatical spirit ; fix not your assent to any 
proposition in a firm and unalterable manner, till you 
have some firm and unalterable ground for it, and till 
you have arrived at some clear and sure evidence ; till 
you have turned the proposition on all sides, and search- 
ed the matter through and through, so that you cannet 



OBTAIN KNOWLEBGE. 15 

be mistaken. And even where you may think you have 
full grounds of assurance, be not too early, nor too fre- 
quent, in expressing this assurance in too peremptory 
and positive a manner, remembering that human na- 
ture is always liable to mistake in this corrupt and fee- 
ble state. A dogmatical spirit has many inconvenien- 
cies attending it : As 

1. It stops the ear against all further reasoning upon 
that subject, and shuts up the mind from all further 
improvements in knowledge. If you have resolutely 
fixed your opinion, though it be upon too slight and in- 
sufficient grounds, yet you will stand determined to 
renounce the strongest reason brought for the contrary 
opinion, and grow obstinate against the force of the 
Clearest argument. Positivo is a man of this character, 
and has often pronounced his assurance of the Carte- 
sian vortexes; last year some further light broke in 
upon his understanding, with uncontrollable force, by 
reading something of mathematical phi'osophy ; yet 
having asserted his former opinions in a most confident 
manner, he is tempted now to wink a little against the 
truth, or to prevaricate in his discourse upon that sub- 
ject, lest, by admitting conviction, he should expose 
himself to the necessity of confessing his former folly 
and mistake; and he has not humility enough for that. 

% A dogmatical spirit naturally leads us to arro- 
gance of mind, and gives a man some airs in conver- 
sation, which are too haughty and assuming. Andens 
is a ma > of learning, and very good company, but his 
infallible assurance renders his carriage sometimes 
insupportable. 

3. K dogmatical spirit inclines a man to be censori- 
ous of his neighbours. Every one of his own opinions 
appears to him written as it were with sunbeams, and 
he grows angrv that his neighbour does not see it in the 
same light. He is tempted to disdain his correspond- 
ents, as men of a low and dark understanding, because 
they will not believe what he does. Furio goes farther 
in this wild track, and charges those who refuse his 
notions with wilful obstinacy, and vile hypocrisy ; he 
tells them boldly that they resist the truth, and sin 
against their consciences. 

These are the men, that when they deal in contro- 
versy delight in reproaches. Thev abound in tossing 
about absurdity and stupidity among their brethren, 



16 GENERAL RULES TO 

They cast the imputation of heresy and nonsense plen- 
tifully upon their antagonists ; and in matters of sacred 
importance, they deal out their anathemas in abun- 
dance, upon Christians better than themselves ; they 
denounce damnation upon tlteir neighbours, without 
either justice or mercy ; and when they pronounce 
sentences of divine wrath against supposed heretics, 
they add their own human fire and indignation. A dog- 
matist in religion is not a great way off from a bigot, 
and is in high danger of growing up to be a bloody 
persecutor. 

Rule XI. Though caution and slow assent will 
guard ycu against frequent mistakes and retractions, 
yet you should get humility and courage enough t re- 
tract any mistake, and confess an error ; frequent 
changes are tokens of levitv in our first determinations; 
yet you should never be too proud to change your opin- 
ion, nor frighted at the name of a changeling. Learn 
to scorn those vulgar bugbears which confirm foolish 
man in his old mistakes, for fear of being charged with 
inconstancy. I confess it is better not to judge, thin to 
judge falsely, am' it is wiser to withhold our assent till 
we see complete evidence ; but if we have too sudden- 
ly given our assent, as the wisest man does sometimes, 
if we have professed what we find afterwards to be 
false, we should never be ashamed nor afraid to re- 
nounce a mistake. That is a noble tssav which is found 
among the occasional papers, to encourage tie world 
to practise retractions; anjd I would recommend it to 
the perusal of every scholar and every Christian. 

Rule XII. He that would raise his judgment above 
the vulgar rank of mankind, and learn to pass a just 
sentence on persons and things, must take heed of a 
fanciful temper of mind, and a humorous conduct in his 
aff^rs. Farcy and humour, early and constantly in- 
dulged, may expect an old age overrun wirh follies. 

The nbtion ot a humourist is one that is greatly pleas- 
ed, or greatly displeased with little things, who sets his 
heart much upon matters of very small importance ; 
who has his will determined every day by trifles, his 
actions seldom directed bv the reason and nature of 
things, and his passions frequently raised by things of 
little moment. Where this practice is allowed, it will 
insensibly warp the judgment to pronounce little things 
great, and tempt you to lay a great weight upon them? 



OBTAIN KNOWLEDGE. 17 

In short, this temper will incline you to pass an unjust 
value on almost every thing that occurs ; and every 
step you take in this path is just so far out of the way 
to wisdom. 

Rule XIII. For the same reason have a care of 
trifling with things important and momentous, or of 
sporting with things awful and sacred ; do not indulge 
a spirit of ridicule, as some witty men do on all occa- 
sions and subjects. This will as unhappily bias the 
judgment on the other side, and incline you to pass a 
low esteem on the most valuable objects. Whatsoev-* 
er evil habit we indulge in practice, it will insensibly 
obtain a power over our understanding, and betray us 
into many errors. Jocander is ready with his jest to 
answer every thing that he hears; he reads books in 
the same jovial humour, and has gotten the art of turn- 
ing every thought and sentence into merriment. How 
many awkward and irregular judgments does this man 
pass upon solemn subjects, even when he designs to be 
grave and in earnest ! His mirth and laughing humour 
is formed into habit and temper, and leads his under- 
standing shamefully astray. You will see him wan- 
dering in pursuit of a gay flying feather, and he is 
drawn by a kind of ignis fatuus into bogs, and mire, 
almost every day of his life. 

Rule XIV. Ever maintain a virtuous and pious 
frame of spirit ; for an indulgence of vicious inclina- 
tions debases the understanding and perverts the judg- 
ment. Whoredom and wine, and new wine, take a- 
way the heart and soul and reason of a man. Sensu- 
ality ruins the better faculties of the mind ; an indul- 
gence to appetite and passion enfeebles the powers of 
reason, it makes the judgment weak and susceptive of 
every falsehr d, and especially of such mistakes as 
have a tendency towards the gratification of the ani- 
mal ; and it warps the soul aside strangely from that 
steadfast honesty and integritv that necessarily belongs 
to the pursuit of truth It is the virtuous man who is 
in a fair way to wisdom. " God gives to those that are 
good in his si°;ht, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy." 
Eccl. ii. 26. 

Piety towards God, as well as sobriety and virtue, 

are necessary qualifications to make a truly wise and 

judicious man. He that abandons religion must act in 

such a contradiction to his own conscience and best 

B 2 



18 GENERAL RUEES TO 

judgment, that he abuses and spoils the faculty itself. 
It is thus in the nature of things, and it is thus by the 
righteous judgment of God ; even the pretended sages 
am^ng the heathens, who did not like to retain God in 
their knowledge, they were given up to a reprobate 
mind, us vovv ufox-ipoy, an undistinguished or injudicious 
mind, so that they judged inconsistently, and practised 
mere absurdities, to. /u» avwovrtt, Rom. i. 28. 

And it is the character of the slaves of antichrist, 2 
Thess. ii. 10, &c. that those " who receive not the love 
of the truth were exposed to the power of diabolical 
sleights and lying wonders." When divine revelation 
shines and blazes in the face of men with glorious ev- 
idence, and thev shut their eyes against it, the God of 
this world is suffered to blind them even in the most 
obvious, common, and sensible things. The great God 
of heaven, for this cause, sends them strong delusions 
that they should believe a lie; and the nonstnse of 
transubstantiation in the popish world, is a most glaring 
accomplishment of this prophecy, beyond even what 
could have been thought of or expected among crea- 
tures who nretend to reason. 

Rule XV. Watch against the pride of your own 
reason, and a vain conceit of your own intellectual pow- 
ers, with the neglect of divine aid and blessing. Pre- 
sume not upon great attainments in knowledge by your 
own self-sufficiency ; those who trust to their own un- 
derstandings entirely, are pronounced fools in the word 
of God ; and it is the wisest of men gives them this 
character ; *' he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." 
Prov. xxviii. 26. And the same divine writer advises 
us Xi to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and not to 
lean to our own understandings, nor to be wise in our 
own eyes.'' - Chap. hi. 5, 7. 

Those who, with a neglect of religion, and depend- 
ence on God, apply themselves to search out every ar- 
ticle in the things of God by the mere dint of their own 
reason, have been suffered to run into wild excesses 
of foolery, and strange and extravagant opinions. Every 
one who pursues this vain course and will not ask for 
the conduct of God in the study of religion, has just 
reason to fear he shall be left of God, and given up a 
prey to a thousand prejudices; that he shall be con- 
signed over to the follies of his own heart, ahd pursue 
his own temporal and eternal ruin. And even in com- 



OBTAIN KNOWLEDGE. 19 

mon studies, we should, by humility and dependence, 
engage the God of truth on our side. 

Rule XVI. Offer up therefore your daily requests 
to God, the Father of lights, that he would bless all 
your attempts and labours in reading, study, and con- 
versation. Think with yourself, how easily and how 
insensibly, by one turn of thought, he can lead you into 
a large scene of useful ideas; he can teach you to lay 
ho'd on a clue which may guide your thoughts with 
safety and ease through all the difficulties of an intri- 
cate subject. Think how easily the Author of your be- 
ing can direct your motions by his providence, so that 
the glance of an eye, or a word striking the ear, or a 
sudden turn of the fancy, shall conduct you to a train 
of happy sentiments* By his secret and supreme me- 
thod of government, he can draw you to read such a 
treatise, or converse with such a person, who may give, 
you more light into some deep subject in an hour, than 
ycu could obtain by a month of your own solitary labour. 

Think with yourself, with how much ease the God 
of spirits can cast into your minds, some useful sugges- 
tion, and give a happy turn to your own thoughts, or the 
thoughts of those with whom you converse, whence 
you may derive unspeakable light end satisfaction, in a 
matter that has long puzzled and entangled you; he 
can shew you a tv path which the vulture's eye hath not 
seen" and lead you by &ome unknown gate or portal, 
out of a wilderness and labyrinth of difficulties, wherein 
you have been long wandering. 

Implore constantly his divine grace to point your in- 
clination to proper studies, and to fix your heart there. 
He can keep off temptations on the right hand, and on 
the left, both by the course of his providence, and by 
the secret and insensible intimations of his Spirit. He 
can guard your understandings from every evil influence 
of error, and secure you from the danger of evil bo >ks 
and men, which might otherwise have a fatal effect, 
and lead you into pernicious mistakes. 

Nor let this sort of advice fall under the censure of 
the ungodly and profane, as a mere piece of bigotry or 
enthusiasm, derived from faith and the Bible ; for the 
reasons which I have given to support this pious prac- 
tice of invoking the blessing of God on our studies, are 
derived from the light of nature as well as revelation. 
He that made our souls, and is the Father of spirits, 



20 GENERAL RULES, &C. 

shall he not be supposed to have a most friendly influ- 
ence towards the instruction and government of them ? 
The Author of our rational powers can involve them in 
darkness when he pleases, by a sudden distemper : or 
he can abandon them to wander into dark and foolish 
opinions, when they are filled with a vain conceit of their 
own light. He expects to be acknowledged in the 
common affairs of life, and he does as certainly expect 
it in the superior operations of the mind, and in the 
search of knowledge and truth. The very Greek hea- 
thens, by the light of reason, were taught to say, 'Ex 
Atoc agxw scr ^ aRC * the Latins, " A Jove Princifiiwn 
Musce" In the works of learning they thought it neces- 
sary to begin with God. Even the poets call upon the 
muse as a goddess to assist them in their compositions. 

The first lines of Homer, in his Iliad, and Odyssey .the 
first line of Musseus, in his song of Hero and Leander, 
the beginning of Hesiod,in his poem of Weeks andDays, 
and several others, furnish us with sufficient examples 
of this kind ; nor does Ovid leave out this piece of de- 
votion as he begins his stories of the Metamorphosis. 
Christianity so much the more obliges us by the pre- 
cepts of Scripture to invoke the assistance of the true 
God in all our labour s of the mind, for the improvement 
of ourselves and others. Bishop Saunderson says, that 
study without prayer is atheism as well as that prayer 
without study is presumption. And we are still more 
abundantly encouraged by the testimony of those who 
have acknowledged from their own experience, that 
sincere prayer was no hindrance to their studies ; they 
have gotten more knowledge sometimes upon their 
knees, than by their labour in perusing a variety of au- 
thors ; and they have left this observation for such as 
follow, Bene orasse est bene studuisse^ Praying is the 
best studying. 

To conclude, let industry and devotion join together, 
and you need not doubt the happy success ; Prov. ii. 2. 
"Incline thine ear unto wisdom, apply thine heart to 
understanding; cry after knowledge, and lift up thy 
voice : seek her as silver, and search for her as for 
hidden treasures : Then shalt thou understand the 
fear of the Lord," &c&which is " the beginning of wis- 
dom." It is " the Lord who gives wisdom, even to the 
simple, and out of his mouth cometh knowledge and 
understanding." 

i 



FIVE METHODS OF IMPROVEMENT. 21 

CHAPTER II. 

Observation, Reading, Instruction by Lectures, 
Conversation, and Study, compared. 

THERE are five eminent means or methods where- 
by the mind is improved in the knowledge of things ; 
and these are observation, reading, instruction by lec- 
tures, conversation, and meditation, which last, in a 
most peculiar manner, is called study. Let us survey 
the general definitions or descriptions of them all. 

I. Observation is that notice that we take of all oc- 
currences in human life, whether they are sensible or 
intellectual, whether relating to persons or things, to 
ourselves or others. It is this that furnishes us, even 
from our infancy, with a rich variety of ideas and pro- 
positions, words and phrases ; it is by this we know that 
fire will burn, that the sun gives light, that a horse eats 
grass, that an acorn produces an oak, that man is a 
being capable of reasoning and discourse, that our judg- 
ment is weak, that our mistakes are many, that our 
sorrows are great, that our bodies die and are carried 
to the grave, and that one generation succeeds another. 
All those things which we see, which we hear or feel, 
which we perceive by sense or consciousness, or which 
we know in a direct manner, with scarce any exercise 
of our reflecting faculties or our reasoning powers, may 
be included under the general name of observation. 

When this observation relates to any thing that im- 
mediately concerhs ourselves, and of which we are 
conscious, it may be called experience. So I am said 
to know or experience that I have in myself a power 
of thinking, fearing, loving, &c. That I have appetites 
and passions working in me, and many personal oc- 
currences have attended me in this life. 

Observation therefore includes all that Mr. Locke 
means by sensation and reflection. 

When we are searching out the nature or properties 
of any be^ng by various methods of trial ; or when we 
apply some active prwers, or set some causes to work, 
to observe what effects they woulof produce, this sort 
of observation is call d experiment. So when I throw 
a bullet into water, I find it sinks ; and when I throw 
the same bullet into quicksilver, I see it swims ; but li 



22 THE FIVE METHODS 

I beat out this bullet into a thin hollow shape, like a 
dish, then it will swim in the water too. So when I 
strike two flints together, I find they produce fire ; when 
I throw a seed into the earth, it grows up into a plant. 
All these belong to the first method of knowledge, 
which, I shall call observation. 

II. Reading is that means or method of knowledge, 
whereby " we acquaint ourselves with what other men 
have written, or published to the world in their writ- 
ings." These arts of reading and writing are of in- 
finite advantage; for by them we are made partakers 
of the sentiments, observations, reasonings, and im- 
provements, of all the learned world, in the most re- 
mote nations, and in former ages, almost from the be- 
ginning of mankind. 

III. Public or private lectures are such '* verbal in- 
structions as are given by a teacher while the learners 
attend in silence." This is the way of learning religion 
from the pulpit, or of philosophy or theology from the 
professor's chair, or of mathematics by a teacher shew- 
ing us various theorems or problems, i. e. speculations 
or practices by demonstration and operation, with all 
the instruments of art necessary to those operations. 

IV. Conversation is another method of improving 
our minds, wherein "by mutual discourse and inquiry 
we learn the sentiments of others, as well as communi- 
cate our sentiments to others in the same manner.'* 
Sometimes indeed, though both parties speak by tmns, 
yet the advantage is only on one side; as, when a 
teacher and a learner meet and discourse together ; 
but frequently the profit is mutual Under this head 
of conversation, we may also rank disputes of various 
kinds. # 

V. Meditation or study includes all those " exercises 
of the mind, whereby we render -all the former methods 
useful, for our increase in true knowledge and wis- 
dom." It is by meditation we come to confirm our 
memory of things that pass through our thoughts in the 
occurrences of life, in our own experiences, and in the 
observations we make ; it is bv meditation that we draw 
various inferences, and establish in our minds general 
principles of knowledge. It is by meditation that we 
compare the various ideas which we derive from our 
senses, or from the operations of our souls, and join 
them in propositions. It is by meditation that we fix 



OF IMPROVEMENT COMPARED. 23 

in our memory whatsoever we learn, and form our own 
judgment of the truth or falsehood, the strength or 
weakness of what others speak or write- It is medita- 
tion or study that draws out long chains of argument* 
and searches and finds deep and difficult truths, which 
before lay concealed in darkness. 

It would be a needless thing to prove that our own 
solitary meditations, together with the few observa- 
tions that the most part of mankind are capable of 
making, are not sufficient, of themselves, to lead us in- 
to the attainment of any considerable proportion of 
knowledge, at least in an age so much improved as 
ours is, without the assistance of conversation and 
reading, and other proper instructions that are to be 
attained in our days. Yet each of. these five methods 
have their peculiar advantages, whereby they assist 
each other ; and their peculiar defects, which have 
need to be supplied by the other's assistance. Let us 
trace over some of the particular advantages of each. 

I. One method of improving the mind, is observa- 
tion, and the advantages of it are these : 

1. It is owing to observation that our " mind is fur- 
nished with the first simple and complex ideas." It is 
this lays the ground -work and foundation of all know- 
ledge, and makes us capable of using any of the other 
methods for improving the mind ; for if we did not at- 
tain a variety of sensible and intellectual ideas by the 
sensations of outward objects, by the consciousness of 
our own appetites and passions, pleasures and pains, 
and by inward experience of the actings of our own 
spirits, it would be impossible either for men or books 
to teach us any thing. It is observation that must give 
us our first ideas of things, as it includes in it sense and 
consciousness. 

2. All our knowledge derived from observation, 
whether it be of single ideas or of propositions, is know- 
ledge gotten at first hand. Hereby we see and know 
things as they are, or as they appear to us ; we take 
the impressions of them on our minds from the original 
objects themselves, which give a clearer and stronger 
conception of things ; these ideas are more lively, and 
the propositions (at least in many cases) are much more 
evident. Whereas, what knowledge we derive from 
lectures, reading and conversation, is but- the copy of 



24 THE FIVE METHODS 

other men's ideas, that is, the picture of a picture ; and 
it is one remove furtiier from the original. 

3. Another advantage of observation is, that we 
may gain knowledge all the day long.and every moment 
of our lives, and every moment of our existence we may 
be adding something to our intellectual treasures there- 
by, except only while we are asleep ; and even then 
the remembrance of our dreaming will teach us some 
truths, and lay a foundation for a better acquaintance 
with human nature, both in the powers and in the 
frailties of it. 

II. The next way of improving the mind is by read- 
ing, and the advantages of it are such as these : 

1. By reading we acquaint ourselves in a very ex- 
tensive manner " with the affairs, actions, and thoughts 
of the living and the dead, in the most remote nations, 
and most distant ages ;" and that with as much ease 
as though they lived in our own age and nation. By 
reading of hooks, we may learn something from all parts 
of mankind ; whereas by observation, we learn all from 
ourselves, and only what ccmes within our own direct 
cognizance ; by conversation we can only enjoy the as- 
sistance of a very few persons, viz. those who are near 
us, and live at the same time when we do, that is, our 
neighbours and contemporaries ; but our knowledge is 
much more narrowed still, if we confine ourselves 
merely to our own solitary reasonings, without much 
observation or reading. For then all our improvement 
must arise only from our own inward powers and 
meditations. 

2. By reading we. learn not only the actions and 
sentiments of different nations and ages, but we transfer 
to ourselves the knowledge and improvements of the 
" most learned men, the wisest and the best of mankind," 
when or wheresoever they lived : For though many 
books have been written by weak and injudicious per- 
sons, yet the most of those books which have obtained 
great reputation in the world, are the products of great 
and wise men in their several ages and nations ; where- 
as we can obtain the conversation and instruction of 
those only who are within the reach of our dwellings, or 
our acquaintance, Whether they are wise or unwise; and 
sometimes that narrow sphere scarce affords any per- 
son of great eminence in wisdom or learning, unless our 
instructer happen to have this character. And as for 



OF IMPROVEMENT COMPARED. 25 

our own study and meditations, even when we arrive at 
some good degrees of learning, our advantage for fur- 
ther improvement in knowledge by them is still far 
more contracted than what we may derive from reading. 

3. When we read good authors, we learn " the 
best, the most laboured, and most ivfined sentiments 
even of those wise and learned men ;" for they have 
studied hard, and have committed to writing their ma- 
turest thoughts, and the result of their long study and 
experience ; whereas by conversation, and in some 
lectures, we obtain, many times, only the present 
thoughts of our tutors or friends, which (though they 
may be bright and useful) yet, at first, perhaps, may 
be sudden and indigested, and are mere hints which 
have risen to no maturity. 

4. It is another advantage of reading, that we may 
« review what we have read ;" we may consult the 
p ige again and again, ana meditate on it at successive 
seasons in our serenestand retired hours,having the book 
always at hand ; but what we obtain by conversation 
and in lectures, is oftentimes lost again as soon as the 
company breaks up, or at least when the day vanishes; 
unless we happen to have the talent of a good memorv, 
or quickly retire and note down what remarkables 
we have found in those discourses. And for the same 
reason, and for the want of retiring and writing, many 
a learned man has lost several useful meditations of 
his own, and could never recal them again. 

Ill The advantages of verbal instructions by public 
or private lectures are these : 

1 There is something more sprightly, more de- 
lightful and entertaining in the living discourse of a 
wis > learned, and well qualified teacher, than there is 
in the silent and sedentary practice of reading. The 
very turn of voice, the good pronunciation, and the po- 
lite and alluring manner which some teachers have 
attained, will engage the attention, Keep the soul fixed, 
and convey and insinuate into the mind the ideas of 
things in a more lively and forcible way, than the mere 
readiug of books in the silence and retirement of the 
closet. 

2. A tutor or instructer when he paraphrases and 
explains other authors, can "mark out the precise 
point of difficulty or controversy," and unfold it. He 
can shew you which paragraphs are of greater im- 

V* 



26 THE FIVE METHODS 

portance, and which are of less moment. He can teach 
his hearers what authors, or what parts of an author, 
are best worth reading on any particular subject : and 
thus b : ve his disciples much time and pains, by short- 
ening the labours of their closet ard private studies. 
He can shew you what were the doctrines of the an- 
cients in a compendium, which perhaps would cost 
much labour and the perusal of many books to attain. 
He can inform you what new doctrines or sentiments 
are arising in the world, before they come to be public; 
as well as acquaint you with his own private thoughts, 
and his own experiments and observations, which never 
were, and perhaps never will be published to the world, 
and yet may be very valuable and useful. 

3. A living instructer can convey to our senses those 
notions with which he would furnish our minds, when 
he teaches us natural philosophy, or most parts of 
mathematical learning. He can make the experiments 
before our eyes. He can describe figures and diagrams, 
point to the lines and angles, and make out the de- 
monstration in a more intelligible manner by sensible 
means, which cannot so well be done by mere reading, 
even though we should have the same figures lying in 
a book before our eyes. A living teacher, therefore, 
is a most necessary help in these studies. 

I might add also, that even where the subject of dis- 
course is moral, logical, or rhetorical, &c. and which 
does not directly come under the notice of our senses, 
a tutor may explain his ideas by such familrar exam- 
ples, and plain or simple similitudes, as seldom find 
place in books and writings. » 

4. When an instructer in his lectures delivers any 
matter of difficulty, or expresses himself in such a 
manner as seems obscure, so that you do not take up 
his ideas clearly or fully, you have opportunity, at least 
when the lecture is finished, or at other proper sea- 
sons, to inquire how such a sentence should be under- 
stood, or how such a difficulty may be explained and 
removed. 

If there be permission given to free converse with 
the tutor, either in the midst of the lecture, or rather 
at the end of it, concerning any doubts or difficulties 
that occur to the hearer, this brings it very near to 
conversation or discourse. 



OF IMPROVEMENT COMPARED. 27 

IV. Conversation is the next method of improve- 
ment, and is attended with the following advantages : 

1. When we converse familiarly with a learned 
friend, we have his own help at hand to explain to us 
every word and. sentiment that seems obscure in his 
discourse,, and to inform us o 1 his whole meaning, so 
that we are in much less danger of mistaking his sense ; 
whereas in books, whatsoever is really obscu e, may 
also abide always obscure without remedy, since the 
author is not at hand, that we may inquire his sense. 

If we mistake the meaning ot our friend in conver- 
sation, we are quickly set right again ; but in reading, 
we many times go on in the same mistake, and are not 
capable of recovering ourselves from it. Thence it 
comes to pass that we have so many contests in all 
ages about the meaning of ancient authors, and espe- 
cially the sacred writers. Happy should we be, could 
we but converse with Moses, Isaiah and St. Paul, and 
consult the prophets and apostles, when we meet with 
a difficult text ! But that glorious conversation is re- 
serve, d for the ages of future blessedness. 

2. When we are discoursing upon any theme with 
a friend, we may propose our doubts and objections a- 
gainst his sentiments, and have them solved and an- 
swered at once. The difficulties that arise in our 
minds may be removed by one enlightening word of 
our correspondent ; whereas in reading, if a difficulty 
Or question arise in our thoughts which the author has 
not happened to mention, we must be content without 
a present answer or solution of it. Books cannot speak. 

3. Not only the doubts which arise in the mind upon 
any subject of discourse are easilv proposed and solved 
in conversation, but the very difficulties we meet with 
in books and in our private studies may find a relief 
by friendly conference. We may pore upon a knotty 
point in solitary meditation many months without a so- 
lution, because perhaps we have gotten into a wrong 
track of thought ; and our labour (while we are pursu- 
ing a false scent) is not only useless and unsuccessful, 
but it leads us perhaps into a long train of error, for 
want of being corrected in the first step. But if we 
note down this difficulty when we read it, we may pro- 
pose it to an ingenious correspondent when we see 
him ; we may be relieved in a moment, and find the 
difficulty vanish : He beholds the object perhaps in a 



28 



THE FIVE METHODS 



different view, sets it before us in quite another light, 
leads us at once into evidence and truth, and that with 
a delightful surprise. 

4, Conversation calls out ir to light what has been 
lodged in all the recesses and secret chambers of the 
soul; by occasional hints and incidents, it brings < Id 
useful notions into remembrance; it hnfolds and dis- 
plays the hidden treasures of knowledge, with wh'ch 
reading, observation, and study, had before furnished 
the mind. By mutual discourse, the soul is awakened 
and allured to bring frrth its hoards of knowledge, and 
it learns how to render them most useful to mankind. 
A man of vast reading, without conversation, is like a 
miser who lives only to himself. 

5 In free and friendly conversation, our intellectual 
powers are more animated, and our spirits act with a 
superiour vigour in the quest and pursuit of unknown 
truths. There is a sharpness and sagacity of thought 
that attends conversa ion, beyond what we find whilst 
shut up reading and musing in our retirements. Our 
souis may be serene in solitude, bntnot sparklir g,though 
perhaps we are employed in reading the works of the 
brightest writers. Often has it happened in free dis- 
course, that new thoughts are strangely struck out, and 
the seeds of truth sparkle and blaze thr< ugh the com- 
pany, which in calm and silent reading would never 
have been excited. By r conversation you will both give 
and receive this benefit; as flints when put into motion 
and striking against each other, produce living fire on 
both sides, which would never have arisen from the same 
hard materials in a state of rest. 

6. In generous conversation, amongst ingenious and 
learned men, we have a gre t advantage of proposing 
our pr ; vate opinions, and of bringing our own sentiments 
to the test, and learning in a more compendious and a 
safer way what the world wil judge of them, how man- 
kind will receive them, what objections may be raised 
against them, what defects there are in ourscheme,and 
how to correct our own mistakes ; which advantages 
are not so easv to be obtained by our own private medi- 
tations; for the pleasure we take in our own notions, 
and the passion of self-love, as well as the narrowness 
of our views, tempt us to pass too favourable an opinion 
on our own schemes ; whereas the variety of genius in 



OF IMPROVEMENT COMPARED. 26, 

our several associates, will give happy notices how our 
opinions will stand in view of mankind. 

7. It is also another considerable advantage of con- 
versation ,that it furnishes the studentwith the knowledge 
of men and the affairs of life, as reading furnishes him 
with book learning. A man who dwells ait his days a- 
mong books, may have amassed together a vast heap 
of notions ; but he may be a mere scholar, which is a 
contemptible sort of character in the world. A. hermit, 
who has been shut up in his ce^I in a college,has contrac- 
ted a sort of mould and rust upon his soul, and all his airs 
of behaviour have a certain awkwardness in them ; but 
these awkward airs are worn away by degrees in com- 
pany ; the rust and the mould are filed and brushed off 
by polite conversation. The scholar now becomes a citi- 
zen or a gentleman,a neighbour and a friend ; he learns 
how to dress his sentiments in the fairest colours, as well 
as to set them in the strongest light. Thus he -brings 
out his notions with honour, he makes some use of them 
in the world, and improves the theory by the practice. 

But before we proceed too far in finishing a bright 
character, by conversation, we should consider that 
something else is necessary besides an acquaintance with 
men and books ; and therefore I add, 

V. Mere lectures, reading, and conversation, with- 
out thinking, are not sufficient to make a man of knowl- 
edge, and wisdom. It is our own thought and reflection, 
study and meditation, must attend all the other methods 
of improvement, and perfect them. It carries these 
advantages with it ; 

1. Though observation and instruction, reading and 
conversation, may furnish us with many ideas of men 
and things, yet it is our own meditation, and the labour 
of our own thoughts, that must form cur judgment of 
things. Our own thoughts should join or disjoin these 
ideas in a proposition for ourselves ; it is cur own mind 
that must judge for ourselves concerning the agreement 
or disagreement of ideas, and form propositions of truth 
out of them. Reading and conversation may acquaint 
us with many truths, and with many arguments to sup- 
port them ; but it is our own study and reasoning that 
must determine whether these propositions are true, 
and whether these arguments are just and solid. 

It is confessed there are a thousand things which our 
eyes have not seen, and which would never come within 
C 2 



30 FIVE METHODS OF IMPROVEMENT. , 

the reach cf our personal and immediate knowledge and 
observation, because of the distance of times and places; 
these must be known by consulting other persons, and 
that is done either in their writings or in their discours- 
es. But after all, let this be a fixed point with us, that 
it is our own reflection and judgment must determine 
how far we should receive that which books or men in- 
form us of, and how far they are worthy of our assent 
and credit. 

2. It is meditation and study that transfers and con- 
veys 'he notions and sentiments of others to ourselves, 
so as to make them properly our own. It is our own 
judgment upon them as well as our memory of them, 
that makes them become our own property. It does as 
it were concoct our intellectual food, and turns it into a 
part of ourselves; just as a man may call his limbs and 
his flesh his own, whether he borrowed the materials 
from the ox or the sheep, from the lark or the lobster ; 
whether he derived it from corn or milk, the fruits of 
the trees, or the herbs and roots of the earth; it is all 
now become one substance with himself, and he wields 
and manages those muscles and limbs for his own proper 
purposes, which once were the substance of other ani- 
mals or vegetables; that very substance which last week 
was grazing in the field, or swimming in the sea, waving 
in the milk pail, or growing in the garden, is now be- 
come part of the man. 

3. By study and meditation we improve the hints that 
we haye acquired by observation, conversation, and 
reading ; we take more time in thinking, and by the la- 
bour of the mind we penetrate deeper into the themes 
of knowledge, and carry our thoughts sometimes much 
farther on many subjects, than we ever met with, either 
in the books of the dead, or discourses of the living. It 
is our own reasoning that dr ?ws out one truth from an- 
other, and forms a whole scheme or science, from a few 
hints which we borrowed elsewhere. 

By a survey of these things we may justly conclude, 
that he who spends all his time in hearing lectures, or 
poring upon books, without observation, meditation, or 
converse, wll have but a mere historical knowledge of 
learning and be able only to tell what others have known 
or -aid o the subject; he that lets all his time flow aw ay 
in conversation, without due observation, reading or 
study, will gain but a slight and superficial knowledge, 



RULES ON OBSERVATION. 



31 



which will be in danger of vanishing with the voice of 
the speaker; and he that confines hi it. self merely to 
his closet, and his own narrow observation of things, and 
is taught onjy by his own solitary thoughts, without in- 
struction by lectures, reading, or free conversation, will 
be in danger of a narrow spirit, a vain conceit of him- 
self, and an unreasonable contempt of others ; and af- 
ter all, he will obtain but a very limited and imperfect 
view and knowledge of things, and he will seldom learn 
how to make that knowledge useful. 

These live methods of improvement should be pursu- 
ed jointly, and go hand in hand, where our circumstan- 
ces are so happy as to find opportunity and convenience 
to enjoy them all ; though I must give my opinion that 
two of them, viz, reading and meditation, should employ 
much more of our time, than public lectures or conver- 
sation and discourse. As for observation, we may be 
always acquiring knowledge that way, whether we are 
alone or in company. 

But it will be for our further improvement, if we go 
over all these five methods of obtaining knowledge more 
distinctly and more at large, and see what special ad- 
vances in useful science we may draw from them all. 

CHAPTER HI. \ 

Rules relating to Observation. 

THOUGH observation, in the strict sense of the 
word, and as it is distinguished from meditation and 
study, is the first means of improvement, and in its 
strictest sense does not include in it any reasonings of 
the mind, upon the things which we observe, or infer- 
ences drawn from them ; yet th<- motions of the mind 
are so exceedingly swift, that it is hardiy possible for a 
thinking man to gain experiences or observations, with- 
out making some secret and short reflections upon them; 
and therefore, in giving a few directions concerning 
this method of improvement, I .shall not so narrowly 
confine m\ self to the first mere impression of objects on 
the mind by observation; but include also some hints 
which relate to the first, most easy, an^ obvious reflec- 
tions or reasonings which arise from them. 



30 RULES RELATING 

I. Let the enlargement of your knowledge be one 
constant view and design in life ; since there is no time 
or place, no transactions, occurrences or engagements in 
life, which exclude us from this method of improving 
the mind. When we are alone, even in darkness and 
silence, we may converse with our own hearts, observe 
the workings of our own spirits, and reflect upon the in- 
ward motions of our own passions in some of the latest 
occurrences in life ; we may acquaint ourselves with the 
powers and properties, the tendencies and inclinations 
of both body and spirit, and gain a more intimate 
knowledge of ourselves. When we are in company, 
we may discover something more of human nature, of 
human passions and follies, and of human affairs, vices 
and virtues, by conversing with mankind and observing 
their conduct. Nor is there any thing more Valuable 
than the knowledge of ourselves, and the knowledge of 
men, except it be the knowledge of God who made us, 
and our relation to him as our Governor. 

When we are in the house, or the city, wheresoever 
we turn our eyes, we see the works of men ; when we 
are abroad in the country, we behold more of the works 
of God. The skies and the*ground above and beneath 
us, may entertain our observation with ten thousand 
varieties. 

Endeavour therefore to derive some instruction, or 
improvement of the mind from every thing which you 
see or hear, from every bring which occurs in human 
Kle, from every thing within you or without you. 

Fetch down some knowledge from the clouds, the 
stars, the sun, the moon, and the revolutions of all the 
planets ; dig and draw up some valuable meditations 
from the depths of the earth, and search them through 
the vast oceans of water; extract some intellectual im- 
provements from the minerals and metals; from the 
wonders of nature among the vegetables and herbs,trees 
and flowers. Learn some lessons from the birds and 
the beasts, and the meanest insect. Read the wisdom 
of God and his admirable contrivance in them all. — 
Read his almighty power, his rich and various goodness, 
in all the works of his hands. 

From the day and the night, the hours and the flying 
minutes learn a wise improvement of time,and be watch- 
ful to seize every opportunity to increase in knowledge. 

From the vicissitudes and revolutions of nations and 



TO OBSERVATION. 33 

families, and from the various occurrences of the world, 
learn the instability of mortal affairs, the uncertainty of 
life, the cettainty of death. From a coffin and a funeral, 
learn to meditate upon your own departure. 

From the vices and ft Hies of others, observe what is 
hateful in them ; consider how such a practice looks in 
another person, and remember that it looks as ill or 
worse in yourself. From the virtue of others, learn 
something worthy of your imitation, 

From the deformity, the distress, or calamity of others 
derive lessons of thankfulness to God, and hvmns of 
grateful praise to your Creator, Governor, and Be e- 
factor, who ha* formed you in a better mruld, as;d 
gu rded you from those evils. Learn also the sacred 
lesson of contentment in your own state, and compas- 
sion to vour neighbour under his miseries. 

From your natural powers, sensations, judgment, 
memory, hands, feet, &c. make this inference, that they 
were not given you fnr nothing, but for some useful em- 
pi v ment 1.0 die honour of your Maker, and for the good 
of your fellow -creatures, as well as for your own best 
interest and final happiness. 

Fr m the sorrows, the pains, the sickness, and suf- 
ferings that attend you, learn the evil of sin, and the 
imperfection of your present state . From your own sins 
and foi lies learn th^ patience of God toward ynu, and 
the practice of humility toward God and man. 

Thus from every appearance in nature, and from ev- 
ery occurrence of life, you may derive natural, moral, 
and religious observations to entertain your minds, as 
well as rules of conduct in the affairs relating to this 
life, and that which is to come. 

II. In order to furnish the mind with a rich variety 
of ideas, the laudable curiosity of young people should 
be indulged and gratified rather than discouraged. It 
is a very hopeful sign in young persons, to see them cu- 
rious in observing, and inquisitive in searching into the 
greatest part of things that occur; nor should such an 
enquiring temper be frowned into silence, nor be rigor- 
ously restrained, but should rather be satisfied by pro- 
per answers given to ail those queries. 

For this reason also, where time and fortune allow it, 
young people should be led into company at proper sea- 
sons, should be carried abroad to see the fields and the 
woods, and the rivers, the buildings, towns, and cities 



34 RULES RELATING 

distant from their own dwelling ; they should be enter- 
tained with the sight of strange birds, beasts, fishes, in- 
sects, vegetables, and productions both of nature and 
art, of every kind, whether they are the products of their 
own or foreign nations ; and in due time, where Provi- 
dence gives opportunity, they may travel under a wise 
inspector or tutor into different parts of the world for 
the same end, that they may bring home treasures of 
useful knowledge. 

III. Among all these observations, write down what 
is most remarkable and uncommon ; reserve these re- 
marks in store for proper occasions, and at proper sea- 
sons take a review of them. Such a practice will give 
you a habit of useful thinking; this will secure the work- 
ings of your soul from running to waste, and by this 
means even your looser moments will turn to happy 
account both here and hereafter. And whatever useful 
observations have been made, let them be at least some 
part of the subject of your conversation among- your 
friends at next meeting, 

Let the circumstances or situations in life be what or 
where they will, a man should never neglect this im- 
provement which may be derived from observation. 
Let him travel into the East or West-Indies, and fulfil 
the duties of the military or the mercantile life there ; 
let him rove through the earth or the seas for his own 
humour as a traveller, or pursue his diversions in what 
part of the world he pleases as a gentleman ; let pros- 
perous or adverse fortune call him to the most distant 
parts of the globe ; still let him carry on his knowledge 
and the improvement of his soul by wise observations. 
In due time, by this means, he may render himself 
some way useful to the societies of mankind. 

Theobaldino, in his younger years, visited the for- 
ests of Norway on the account of trade and timber, and 
besides his proper observations on the growth of trees on 
those northern mountains, he learned there was a sort 
of people called Fins.in those confines which border upon 
Sweden, whose habitation is in the woods; and he lived 
afterwards to give a good account of them, and some of 
their customs, to the Royal Society, for the improvement 
of natural knowledge. Puteoli was taken captive in- 
to Turkey in his youth, and travelled with his master in 
their holy pilgrimage to Mecca, whereby he became 
more intelligent in the forms, ceremonies, and fooleries 



TO OBSERVATION. 35 

of the Mahometan worship, than perhaps ever any 
Briton knew before ; and by his manuscripts we are 
more acquainted in this last century with the Turkish 
sacreds, than any one had ever informed us. 

IV. Let us keep our minds as free as possible from 
passions and prejudices, for these will give a wrong turn 
to our observations both on persons and things. The 
eyes of a man in the jaundice make yellow observations 
on every thing ; and the soul tinctured with any pas- 
sion or prejudice, diffuses a false colour over the real 
appearances of things, and disguises many of the com- 
mon occurrences of life ; it never beholds things in a 
true light, nor suffers them to appear as they are. 
Whensoever, therefore, you would make proper obser- 
vations, let self, with all its influences, stand aside as far 
as possible ; abstract your own interest and your own 
concern from them, and bid all friendships and enmi- 
ties stand aloof and keep out of the way, in the obser- 
vations that you make relating to persons and things. 

If this rule were well obeyed, we should be much 
better guarded against those common pieces of miscon- 
duct in the observations of men, viz. the false judgments 
of pride and envy. How ready is envy to mingle with 
the notices which we take of other persons ! How often 
is mankind prone to put an ill sense upon the actions of 
their neighbours, to take a survey of them in an evil po- 
sition, and in an unhappy light! And by this means 
we form a worse opinion of our neighbours than they 
deserve ; while at the same time pride and self flattery 
tempt us to make unjust observations on ourselves in 
our own favour. In all the favourable judgments we 
pass concerning ourselves, we should allow a little 
abatement on this account. 

V. In making ycur observations on persons, take care 
of indulging that busy curiosity which is ever inquiring^ 
into private and domestic affairs, with an endless itch 
of learning the secret history of families. It is but sel- 
dom that s8ch a prying curiosity attains any valuable 
end : It often begets suspicions, jealousies, and disturb- 
ances in households, and it is a frequent temptation to 
persons to defame their neighbours. Some persons can- 
not help telling what they know ; a busybody is most 
liable to become a tattler upon every occasion. 

VI. Let your observation, even of persons and their 
conduct, be chiefly designed in order to lead you to a 



36 RULES ON OBSERVATION. 

better acquaintance with things, particularly with hu- 
man nature ; and to inform you what to imitate and 
what to avoid, rather than to furnish out matter for the 
evil passions of the mind, or the impertinences of dis- 
course, and reproaches* of the tongue. 

VII Though it may be proper sometimes to make 
your observations concerning persons, as well as things, 
the subject of your discourse in teamed or useful con- 
versations; yet what remarks you make on particular 
persons, especially to their disadvantage, should fo: the 
most part lie hid in your own breast, till some just and 
apparent occasion, some necessary call of Providence, 
leads you to speak to them. 

If the character or conduct which you observe be 
greatly culpable, it should so much the less be publish- 
ed. You may treasure up such remarks of the follies, 
indecencies, or vices of your neighbours, as may be a 
constant guard against your practice of the same, with- 
out exposing the reputation of your neighbour on that 
account. It is a good old rule, that our conversation 
should rather be iaid out on things than on persons ; 
and this rule should generally be observed, unless names 
be concealed, wheresoever the faults or follies of man- 
kind are our present theme. 

Our late Archbishop Tillotson has written a small, 
but excellent discourse on evil speaking, wherein he ad- 
mirably explains, limits, and applies that general apos- 
tolic precept, S/ieak evil of no man. Titus iii. 2. 

VIII. Be not too hasty to erect general theories 
from a few particular observations, appearances, or 
experiments. This is what the logicians call a false in- 
duction. When general observations are drawn from 
so many particulars as to become certain and indubita- 
ble, these are jewels of know. edge, comprehending 
great treasure in a little room ; but they are therefore 
to be made with the greater care and caution, lest er- 
rors become large aud diffusive, if we should mistake in 
these general notions. 

A. hasty determination of some universal p* inciples, 
without a due survey of all the particular cases which 
may be included in them, is the way to lay a trap for 
our own understandings, in their pursuit of any subject, 
and we shall often be taken captives into mistake and 
falsehood. Niveo in his youth observed, that on three 
Christmas days together there fell a good quantity of 



OP BOOKS AND READING. 37 

snow, and now hath writ it down in his Almanack, as a 
part of his wise remarks on the weather, that it wiil al- 
ways snow at Christmas. Euron, a young lad r tcok no- 
tice ten times, that there Was a sharp frost when the 
wind was in the north-east, therefore in the middle of 
last July he almost expected it should freeze, because 
the weather vane showed him a m.rth-east wind ; and 
he was still more disappointed, when he found it a very 
su try season. It is the same hasty judgment that hath 
thrown scandal on a whole nation for the sake of some 
culpable characters belonging to several particular na- 
tives of that country ; whereas all the Frenchmen are 
not gay and airy ; ail the Italians are not jealous and 
revengeful ; nor are all the English overrun with the 
spleen. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Of Books and Reading. 

I. THE world is full, of books, but there are multi» 
tudes which are so ill written, they were never worth 
any man's reading ; and there are thousands more 
which may be good in their kind, yet are worth noth- 
ing when the month or year or occasion is past for 
which they were written. Others may be valuable in 
themselves, for some special purpose, or in some pecu- 
liar science, but are not lit to be perused by any but 
those who are engaged in that particular science or 
business. To what use is it for a divine, or physician, 
or a tradesman, to read over the huge volumes of re- 
ports of judged cases in the law ? Or for a lawyer to 
learn Hebrew and read the Rabbins? It is of vast ad- 
vantage for improvement of knowledge and saving 
time, for a young man to have the most proper books 
for his reading recommended by a judicious friend. 

II. Books of importance of any kind, and especially 
complete treatises on any subject, should be first read 
in a more general and cursory manner, to learn a little 
what the treatise promises, and what ycu may expect 
from the writer's manner and skill. And for this end 
I would advise always that the preface be read, and a 
survey taken of- the table of contents, if there be one, 
before the first survey of the book. By this means vou 

D 



38 &F BOOKS AND READING, 

will not only be better fitted to give the boo^ the first 
reading, out you win be much assisted in ydur second 
perusal of it, which should be done with greater atten- 
tion aid deliberation, and you will ieam with more ease 
and readiness what the author pretends to teach. In 
your reading, mark what is new or unknown to you be* 
tore, and review these chapters, pages, or paragraphs. 
Unless a reader has an uncommon and most retentive 
memory, 1 may venture to affirm, that there is scarce 
any book, or chapter worth reading once that is not 
worthy of a second perusal : At least, to take a careful 
review of all the hues or paragraphs which you mark- 
ed, and make a recollection of the sections which you 
thought truly valuable. 

There is another reason also why I would choose to 
take a superficial and cursory survey of a book, before 
I sit down to read it, and dwell upon it with studious at- 
tention; and that is, there may be several difficulties 
in it, which we cannot easily understand and conquer 
at the first reading, for want of a fuller comprehension 
of the author's whoie scheme. And therefore, in such 
treatises, we should not stay till we master every dif- 
ficulty at the first perusal ; for perhaps many of these 
would appear to be solved when we have proceeded 
further in that book, or would vanish of themselves 
upon a second reading. 

What we cannot reach and penetrate at first, may 
be noted down as matter of after consideration and in- 
quiry, if the pages that follow do not happen to strike 
a complete light on those which went before. 

III. If three or tour persons agree to read the same 
book, and each bring his jwii remarks upon it at some 
set hours appointed for conversation, and they com- 
municate mutually their sentiments on the subject, and 
debate aoout it in a friendly manner, this practice will 
render the reading any author more abundantly bene- 
ficial to every one ot them. 

IV. If several persons engaged in the same study, 
take into their hands distinct treatises on one subjec , 
and appoint a season of communication once a week, 
they may inform each other in a brief manner concern- 
ing the sense, sentiments, and .method of those several 
authors, and thereby promote each other's improve- 
ment, either by recommending the perusal of the saine 
book to their companions, or perhaps by satisfying their 



OF BOOKS AND READING. 39 

inquiries concerning it by conversation, without every 
one' • pe 'using it. 

V. Remember that your business in reading or in 
conversation, especially on subjects of natural, moral, 
or divine science, is not merely to know the opinion of 
the author or speaker, for this is but the mere know- 
ledge of historv ; but vour chief business is tc consider 
whether their opinions are right or not, and to improve 
your fiwn solid knowledge on that subject by meditation 
on the themes of their writing or discourse. Deal freely 
with every author you read, and yield up your assent 
only to evidence and jnst reasoning on the subject 

Here I Would be understood, to speak only of human 
authors, and not of the sacred and inspired writings. In 
these, our business is only to find out the true sense and 
understand the true meaning of the paragraph and 
pag\ and our assent then is bound to follow, when we 
are before satisfied that the writing is divine. Yet I 
miedit add also that even this is sufficient evidence to 
demand our assent. 

But in the composures of men, remember you are a 
man as well as they ; and it is not their reason but your 
own that is given to guide you when you arrive at years 
of discretion, of manly age and judgment. 

VI. Let this therefore be your practice, especially 
after you have gone through one course of any science 
in your academical studies ; if a writer on that subject 
maintains the same sentiments as you do, yet if he does 
not explain his ideas or prove the positions well, mark 
the faults or defects, and endeavour to do it better, 
either in the margin of your book, or rather in some pa- 
pers of your own, or at least let it be done in your pri- 
vate meditations. — As for instance : 

Where the author is obscure, enlighten him ; where 
he is imperfect, supply his deficiencies; where he is too 
brief and concise, amplify a little, and s^t his notions in a 
fairer view ; where he is redundant, mark those para- 
graphs to be retrenched ; when he trifles and grows im- 
pertinent, abandon those passages or pages ; where he 
argues, observe whether his reasons be conclusive ; if 
the conclusion be true, and yet the argument weak, en- 
deavour to confirm it by better proofs ; when- he de- 
rives or infers any propositions darklv or doubtfully, 
make the justice of the inference appear, and add fur- 
ther inferences or corollaries, if such occur to your mind| 



40 



OF BOOKS AND READING. 



where you suppose he is in a mistake, propose your ob- 
jections and correct his sentiments ; what he writes so 
well as to approve itself to your judgment, both as just 
and useful, treasure it up in your memory, and count it 
a part of your intei'ectual acquisitions. 

Note. — Many ot these same directions which I have 
now given, may be practised with regard to conversa- 
tion, as well as reading, in order to render it useful m 
thembst extensive and lasting manner. 

VII. Other things also of the like nature may be 
usefully practised with regard to the authors which you 
read, viz. If the method of a book be irregular, reduce 
it into form by a little analysis of your own, or by bints 
in the margin ; if those things are heaped together, 
which should be separated, you may wisely distinguish 
and divide them ; if several things relating to the same 
subject are scattered up and down separately through 
the treatise, you may bring tbem all to one view by ref- 
erences ; or if the matter of a book be really valuable 
and deserving, vou may throw it into a better method, 
reduce it to a more logical scheme, or abridge it into a 
lesser form ; all these practices will have a tendency 
to advance your skill both in logic and method, to im- 
prove your judgment in general, ani to give you a fuller 
survey of that subject in particular. When you have 
finished the treatise, with all your observations upon it, 
recollect" and determine what real improvements you 
have made bv reading that author. 

VIII. If a book has no index to it, or good table of 
contents, it is very useful to make one as you are read- 
ing it ; not with that exactness as to include the sonse 
of every page and paragraph, which should be d^ne if 
ygu designed to print it ; but it is sufficient in ycur in- 
dex to take notice only of those p^rts of the book which 
are new to vou or which you think well written, and 
worthy of your remembrance or review. 

Shall I be so free as to assure mv younger friends, 
from my own experience, that these methods of read- 
ing will cost some pains in the first years of your study, 
and especially in the first authors which vou peruse in 
any science, or on any particular subject ? but the pro- 
fit will richly compensate the pains. And in the fol- 
lowing years of life, after you have read a few valua- 
ble books on any special subject in this manner, it will 
be very easy to read others of the same kind, because 



v OF BOOKS AND READING. 4i 

you will not usually find very much new matter in them 
which you have not already examined. 

IX If the writer be remarkable tor any peculiar 
excellencies or defects in his style or manner of writ- 
ing, make just observations upon this also ; and what- 
soever ornaments you find there, or whatst ever blem- 
ishes occur in the language or manner of the writer, 
you may make just remarks upon them. And remem- 
ber, that one book read over in this manner, with all 
this laborious meditation, will tend more to enrich yrur 
understanding, than the skimming over the surface of 
twenty authors. 

X. By perusing books m the manner I have describ- 
ed, you will make all your reading subservient; not only 
to the enlargement of your treasures of knowledge, but 
also to the improvement of your reasoning powers. 

There are many who read with constancy and dili- 
gence, and yet make no advances in true knowledge 
by it. They are delighted with the notions Which they 
read or hear, as they would be with stories that are 
told ; but they do not weigh them in their minds as in a 
just balance, in order to determine their truth or false- 
hood ; they make no observations upon them, or infer- 
ences from them. Perhaps their eye slides over the 
pages, or the words slide over their ears, and vanish 
like a rhapsody of evening tales, or the shadows of a 
cloud flying over a green field in a summer's day. 

Or if they review them sufficiently, to fix them in 
their remembrance, it is merely with the design to tell 
the tale over again, and show what men of learning 
they are. Thus they dream out their days in a course 
of reading without real advantage. As a man may be 
eating all day, and for want of digestion is never nour- 
ished ; so these endless readers may cram themselves 
in vain with intellectual food, and without real improve- 
ment of their minds, for want of digesting it by proper 
reflections. 

XI. Re diligent therefore in observing these direc- 
tions : Enter into the sense ard arguments of the au- 
thors you read, examine all their proofs, and then judge 
of the truth or falsehood of their opinions; and thereby 
you shall not only gdin a rich increase of your under- 
standing, by those truths which the author teaches, 
when you see them well supported, but you shall ac- 
quire also, by degrees, an habit of judging justly, and of 

D 2 



42 OF BOOKS AND READING. 

reasoning well, in imitation of the good writer whose 
works you peruse. 

This is laborious indeed, and the mind is backward 
to undergo the fatigue of weighing every argument and 
tracing every thing to its original. It is much less la- 
bour to take all things upon trust ; believing is much 
easier than arguing. But when Studentio had once 
persuaded his mind to tie itself down to this method 
which I have prescribed, he sensibly gained an admi- 
rable facility to read, and judge of what he read, by 
his daily practice of it, and the man made large advan- 
ces in the pursuit of truth ; while Plumbinus ;md P-u- 
meo made less progress in knowledge, though they had 
read over more folios. Plumeo skimmed over the pa- 
ges like a swallow over the flowery meads in May. 
Plumbinus read even line and syllable, but did not give 
himself the trouble of thinking and judging about them . 
They both could boast in company of th^ir great read- 
ing, for they knew more titles and pages than Studen- 
tio, but were far less acquainted with science. 

I confess those whose reading is designed only to fit 
them for much talk and little knowledg , may content 
themselves to run over their authors in such a sudden 
and trifling way; they may devour libraries in this 
manner, yet be poor reasoners at last, and have no sol- 
id wisdom or true learning. The traveller who walks 
on fair and softly, in a course that p- ints right, and ex- 
amines every turning before he ventures upon it, will 
come sooner and safer to his journey's end, than he who 
runs through every lane he meets, though he gallops 
full speed all the day. The man of much reacting and 
a large retentive memory, but without meditation, may 
become, in the sense of the world, a knowing man; and 
if he converse much with the ancients, he may attain 
the fame of learning too ; but he spends his d.iys afar 
off from wisdom and true judgment, and possesses very 
little of the substantial riches of the mind. 

XII Never apply yourselves to read anv human 
author with a determination beforehand either for or 
against him, or with a settled resolution to believe or 
disbelieve, to confirm or to oppose whatsoever he saith; 
but always read with a design to lay your mind open 
to truth, and to embrace it wheresoever you find it, as 
well as to reject every falsehood, though it appear un- 
der ever so fair a disguise. How unhappy are those men 



OF BOOKS AND READING. 4o 

who seldom take an author into their hands but they 
have determined before they begin whether they will 
like or dislike him ! They have got some notion of his 
name, his character, his party, or his principles, by 
general conversation, or perhaps by some slight view 
of a few pages ; and having all their own opinions ad- 
justed beforehand, they read all that he wri.es with a 
prepossession either for or" against them Unhappy 
those who hunt and purvey for a party, and scrape to- 
gether out of every auvhor, all those things, and these 
only, which favour their own tenets, while they despise 
and neglect all the rest. 

XIII. Yet take this caution. I would not be under- 
stood here as though I persuaded a person to live with- 
out any settled principles at all, by which to judge of 
men, and books, and things ; or that I would keep a 
man always doubting about his foundations. The chief 
things that I design in this advice are these three : 

1. That after our most necessary and important 
principles of science, prudence, and religion, are settled 
upon good grounds, with regard to our present conduct 
and our future hopes, we should read with a just free- 
dom of thought ali those books, which treat of such sub- 
jects as may admit of doubt and reasonable dispute. 
Nor should any of our opinions be so resolved upon, es- 
pecially in vounger years, as never to hear or to bear 
an opposition to them. 

2. When we peruse those authors who defend our 
own settled sentiments, we should not take all their ar- 
guments for just and solid ; but we should make a wise 
distinction between the corn and the chaff, between 
solid reasoning and the mere superficial colours of it ; 
nor should we readily swallow down all their lesser 
opinions, because we agree with them in the greater. 

3. That when we read those authors which oppose 
our most certain and established principles, we should 
be ready to receive any informations from them in 
other points, and not abandon at once every thing they 
say, though we are well fixed in our opposition to their 
main point of arguing. 

Fas est, et ah hoste doceri ...Virg. 

Seize upon truth where'er 'tis found, 

Amongst your friends, amongst your foes, 
On Christian or on Heathen ground ; 

The flower's diyine where'er it grows : 

Neglect the prickles, and assume the jgse» 



44 



OF BOOKS AND READING, 



XIV. What I have said hitherto on this subject re- 
lating to books and reading, must be chiefly understood 
of that sort of books, and those hours of our reading and 
study, whereby we design to improve the intellectual 
powers of the mind with natural, moral, or divine know- 
ledge. As for those treatises which are written to direct 
or to enforce and persuade our practiced here is one thing 
further necessary ; and that is, that when our consci- 
ences are convinced tha\ these rules of prudence or duty 
belong to us, and require our conformity to them, we 
should then call ourselves to account, and inquire se- 
riously whether we have put them in practice or not ; 
we should dwell upon the arguments, and impress the 
motives and methods of persuasion upon our own hearts, 
till we feel the force and power of them inclining us to 
the practice of the things which are there recommended. 

If folly or vice be represented in its open colours, or its 
secret disguises, let us search our hearts.and review our 
lives, and inquire how far we are criminal : Nor should 
we ever think we have done with the treatise till we feel 
ourselves in sorrow for our past misconduct, and aspir- 
ing after a victory over those vices, or till we find a 
cure of those follies begun to be wrought upon our souls. 

In all our studies and pursuits of knowledge, let us 
remember that virtue and vice, sin and holiness, and the 
conformation of our hearts and lives to the duties of true 
religion and morality, are things of far more consequence 
than all the furniture of our understanding, and the rich- 
est treasures of mere speculative knowledge ; and that 
because they have a more immediate and effectual influ- 
ence upon our eternal felicity or eternal sorrow. 

XV. There is yet another sort of books, of which it is 
proper I should say something while I am treating on 
this subject; and these are, history, poesy, travels, boGks 
of diversion or amusement ; among which we may rec- 
kon also, little common pamphlets, newspapers, or such 
like ; for many of these, 1 confess once reading may be 
sufficient, where there is a tolerable good memory. 

Or when several persons are in company, and one 
reads to the res> such sort of writings, once hearing may 
be sufficient, provided that every one be so attentive, 
and so free as to make their occasional remarks on such 
lines or sentences, such periods or paragraphs, as in 
their opinion deserve it. N^w all those paragraphs or 
sentiments deserve a remark, which are new and un- 
common, are noble and excellent for the matter of them, 



OF BOOKS AND READING, 45 

are strong awl convincing for the argument contained 
in them, are beautiful and ejegant for the language or 
the manner, or any way worthy of a second rehearsal ; 
and at the request of any of the company, let those 
paragraphs be read over again. 

Such parts also of these writings as may happen to 
be remarkably stupid or silly*, fals'eor mistaken, should 
become subjects of an occasional criticism, made by 
some of the company ; and this may give occasion to 
the repetition of them for the confirmation of the cen- 
sure, for amusement or diversion. 

Still let it be remembered, thnt where the historical 
narration is of considerable moment, where the poesy, 
oratory, &c. shine with some degrees of perfection and 
glorv, a single reading is neither sufficient to satisfy a 
mind that has a true taste for this sort of waitings, nor 
can we make the fullest and best improvement of them 
without proper reviews, and that in our retirement as 
well as in company. Who is there that has any taste 
for polite writings, that would be sufficiently satisfied 
with hearing the beautiful pages of Steele or Addison, 
the admirable descriptions of Virgil or Milton, or some 
of the finest poems of P^pe, Young, or Dryden, once 
read over to th<*m, and then lay them by forever? 

XVI. Amongst these writings of the latter kind, we 
may justly reckon short miscellaneous essays on all man- 
ner of" subjects ; such as the-Occnsiojial Papers,theTat- 
lers, the Spectators, and some other books that have 
beeh compiled out of the weekly or dally products of 
the press, wherein are contained' a great number of 
bright thoughts, ingenious remarks, and admirable ob- 
servations, which have had a considerable share in fur- 
nishing the present age with knowledge and politeness. 

I wish every paper among these writings could have 
been recommended both as innocent and useful. I wish 
every unseemly idea, and wanton expression had b^-en 
banished from amongst them, and every trifling page 
had been excluded from the company of the rest, when 
they had b en bound ur> in volumes. But it is not to be 
expected, in so imperfect a state, that every page or 
piece of such mixed public papers should be entirely 
blameless and laudable. Yet in the main it must be con- 
fessed, there is so much virtue, prudence, ingenuity and 
goodness in them, especially in eight volumes of Specta- 
tors, there is such a reverence of things sucred, so many 



46 OF BOOKS AND READING. 

valuable remarks f >r our conduct in life, that they are 
not improper to lie in parlours, or summer houses, or 
places of usual residence, to entertain our thoughts in 
any moments of leisure, or vacant hours that occur. 
There is such a discoverv of the follies, iniquities, and 
fashionable vices of mankind contained in them, that 
we may learn much of the humours and madnesses of 
the age, and the public w yrld, in our own solitary retire- 
ment, without the danger of frequenting vicious conv- 
panv, cr receiving the mortal ntection. 

XV [I. Among other books which are proper and re- 
quisite, in order to improve our knowledge in ge eral, 
or our acquaintance with any particular science, it is 
necessary that we should be furnished with Vocabula- 
ries and Dictionaries of several sons, viz. of common 
■words, idioms, and phrases, in order to explain their 
sense; of technical words or the terms of art, to show 
their use in arts and sciences ; of names of men, coun- 
tries, towns, rivers, 8cc which are called historical and 
geographical dictionaries, &c. These are to be consult- 
ed and used upon every occasion ; and never let an un- 
known word ps*ss in your reading, without seeking for 
its sense and meaning in some of these writers. 

If such books are not at hand, you must supply the 
want of them, as well as you can, by consulting such as 
can inform you ; and it is useful to note down the mat- 
ters of doubt and inquiry in some pocket book, and t ike 
the first opportunity to get them resolved, either by per- 
sons or books, when we meet with them. 

XVI II. Be not satisfied with a mere knowledge of 
the best authors that treat of any subject, instead of ac- 
quainting yourselves thoroughly with the subject itself. 
There is many a young student that is fond of enlarging 
his knowledge of books, and he contents himself with 
the notice he h^s of their title page, which is the attain- 
ment of a bookseller rather than a scholar. Such per- 
sons are under a great temptation to practise these two 
follies; (1.) To heap up a great number of books, at a 
greater expanse than most of them can bear, and to fur- 
nish their libraries infinitely better than their understand- 
ings. And (2.) when they have gotten such rich treas- 
ures of knowledge upon their shelves, they imagine 
themselves men of learning, and take a pride in talking 
of the names of famous authors, and the subjects of 
which thev treat, without any real improvement of their 
own minds in true science or wisdom. At best, then? 



JUDGMENT OF BOOKS. 47 

earning reaches no farther than the indexes and tables 
of contents, while they know not how to judge or reason 
concerning the matters contained in those authors. 

And indeed how many volumes cf learning soever a 
man possesses, he is still deplorably poor in his under- 
standing, till lie has made those several parts of learn- 
ing his own property, by reading and reasoning, by 
judging for himself, and remembering what he has read, 



CHAPTER V, 

Judgment of Books. 

I. IF we would form a judgment of a book which 
we have not seen before, the first thing that offers is 
the title page, and we may sometimes guess a little at 
the impot and design of a book thereby; though it 
must be c nfessed that titles are often deceitful, and 
ptomise more than the book performs. The author's 
name, ;f it be ki.own in the world, may help us to con- 
jecture at the performance a little more, and lead us 
to guess in what manner it is done. A perusal of the 
preface or introduction (which 1 before recommended) 
may further ass st our judgment; and if there be an in- 
dex of the contents, it will give us still some advancing 
light. 

II we have not leisure or inclination to read over the 
bijok itself regularly, then by -he titles oi chapters we 
may be directed to peruse several particular chapters 
or sections, and observe whether there be riy thing val- 
uable or important \\ them. We shall find hereby, 
whether the author explains his ideas clearly, whether 
he reasons strongly, whether he methodizes well, 
whether his thoughts and sense be manly, and his man- 
ner polite ; or, on the other hand, whether he be < b- 
scure. weak, trifling and confused ; or filially, whether 
the matter may not be solid and substantial, though the 
style and manner be rude and disagreeable. 

II. By having run througli several chapters and 
sections in this manner, we may generally judge wheth- 
er tile treatise be worth a complete perusal or not. But 
it by suob an occasion ;1 survey of some chapters, our 
expectation be utteny discouraged, we may well lay 
aside that book ; tor there is great probability ne can 



4S JUDGMENT OF BOOKS. 

be but an indifferent writer on that subject, if he affords 
but one prize to divers blanks, and it may bt some 
downright blots too. The piece can hardly be valuable, 
if, in seven or eight chapters which we peruse, there 
be but liitle truth, evidence, force of reasoning, beauty, 
and ingenuity ot thought, ike. mingled with much er- 
ror, ignorance, impertinence, dullness, mean and com- 
mon thoughts, inaccuracy, sophistry, railing, &c. Life 
is too short and time is too precious, to read every new 
book quite over, in order to find that it is not worth 
reading. 

III. There are some general mistakes which per- 
sons are frequently guilty of in passing a judgment on 
the books which they read. 

One is this , when a treatise is written but tolerably 
well, we are ready to pass a favouiable judgment of it, 
and sometimes to exait its character far beyond its 
merit, if it agree with our own principles, and support 
the opinions of our party. On the other hand,** if the 
author be of different sentiments, and espouse contrary 
principles, we can find neither wit nor reason, good 
sense nor good language in it. Whereas, alas! if our 
opinions of things were certain and infallible truth, yet 
a silly author may diaw his pen in the defence of them, 
and he may attack even gross errors with feeble and 
ridiculous arguments. Truth in this world is not al- 
ways attended and supported by the wisest and safest 
methods ; and error, though it can never be maintain- 
ed by just reasoning, yet may be artfully covered and 
defended; an ingenious writer may put excellent col- 
ours upon his own mistakes. Some Socmians, who deny 
the atonement of Christ, have written wel!, and with 
much appearance of argument for their own unscriptu- 
rai sentiments, and some writers for the Trinity and 
satisfaction of Christ, have exposed themselves and the 
sacred doctrine, by their feeble and foolish manner of 
handling it. Books are never to be judged of merely by 
their subject, or the opinion they rt present, but by the 
justness of their sentiments, the beauty of their manner, 
the force of their expression ; or the strength of reason, 
and the weight of just and proper argument which ap- 
pears in them. 

But this folly and weakness of trifling instead of argu- 
ing does not happen to fall only to the share 16 Christian 
writers ; there are some who have taken the pen in 



JUDGMENT OF 6003S. 49* 

hand to support the deistical or antichristian scheme of 
our days, who make big pretences to reason, upon all 
occasions, but seem to have left it all behind them when 
they are jesting with the Bible, and scoffing at the books 
which we call sacred. Some of these performance,* 
would scarcely have been thought tolerabie if they had 
not assaulted the Christian faith, though they are now 
grown up to a place amongst the admired authors. I 
much question whether several of the rhapsodies called 
the Characteristics, would ever have survived the first 
edition, if they had not discovered so strong a tincture 
of infidelity, and now and then cast out a profane sneer 
at our holy religion. I have sometimes indeed been 
ready to wonder how a book in the main so loosely 
written, should ever obtain so many readers among 
men of sense. Surely they must be conscious in the 
perusal, that sometimes a patrician may write as idle 
as a man of plebeian rank, and trifle as much as an old 
schoolman, though it is in another form. I am forced 
to say, there are few books that ever I read, which 
made any pretences to a great genius, from which I 
derived so little valuable knowledge as from these trea- 
tises. There is indeed amongst them a lively pert* 
ness, a parade of literature, and much of what some 
foiksnow-a-days call politeness, but it is hard that we 
should be bound to admire all the reveries of this au- 
thor, under the penalty of being unfashionable, 

IV. Another mistake which some persons fall into is 
this : When they read a treatise on a subject with which 
they have but little acquaintance, they find almost eve- 
ry thing new and strange to them ; their understand- 
ings are greatly entertained and improved by the oc- 
currence of many things which were unknown to them 
before; they admire the treatise, and commend the au- 
thor at once ; whereas if they had but attained a good 
degree of skill in that science, perhaps they would find* 
that the author had written very poorly, that neither 
his sense nor his method was just and proper, and that 
he had nothing in him but what was very common or 
trivial in his discourses on that subject. 

Hence it comes to pass that Cario and Faber, who 
were both bred up to labour, and unacquainted With 
the sciences, shall admire one of the weekly papers, or 
a little pamphlet, that talks pertly on some critical 
w learned theme, because the matter is all strange and 
E 



50 JUDGMENT OF BOOKS. 

new to them, and they join to extol the writer to the 
skies; and for the same reason, a young academic shall 
dwell upon a Journal or an Obsetvator that treats of 
trade and politics in a dictatorial style, and shall be 
lavish in the praise of the author ; while at the same 
time, persons well skilled in those different subjects hear 
the impertinent tattle with a just contempt ; for they 
know how weak and awkward many of those little di- 
minutive discourses are ; and that those very papers of 
science, politics or trade, which were so much admired 
by the ignorant, are perhaps but very mean perform- 
ances ; though it must also be confessed there are some 
excellent essays in those papers, and that upon science 
as well as trade. 

V. But there is a danger of mistake in our judgment 
of books on the other hand also ; for when we have 
made ourselves masters of any particular theme of 
knowledge, and surveyed it long on all sides, there is 
perhaps scarcely any writer on that subject who much 
entertains and pleases us afterwards, because we find 
little or nothing new in him; and yet in a true judg- 
ment perhaps his sentiments are most proper and just,- 
his explication clear, and his reasonings strong, and all 
the parts of the discourse are well connected and set in 
a happy light; but we knew most of those things be-- 
fbre, atid therefore they stnke us not, and we are in 
danger of not sufficiently esteeming them. 

Thus the learned and the unlearned have their sev- 
eral distinct dangers and prejudices ready to attend 
them in their judgment of the writings of men. These 
which I have mentioned are a specimen of them, and 
indeed but a mere specimen ; for the prejudices, that 
warp our judgment aside from truth are almost infinite 
and endless. 

VI. Yet I cannot forbear to point cut' two or three 
more of these foliies, that I may attempt something to- 
wards the correction of them, or at least to guard others 
against them. 

There are some persons of a forward and lively tem- 
per, and who are fond to intermeddle with all appear- 
ances of knowledge, will give their judgment on a book 
as soon as the title of it is mentioned, for they would not 
willingly seem ignorant of any thing that others know. 
And especially if they happen to have any superior 
character or possessions of this world, they fancy they 



JUDGMENT OF BOOKS. 51 

jiave a right to talk freely upon every thing that x stirs 
or appears, though they have no other pretence to this 
freedom. Divito is worth forty thousand pounds : Pcli- 
tulus is a fine young gentleman, who sparkles in all the 
shining things of dress and equipage : Aulinus is a small 
attendant on a minister of state, and is at court almost 
every day. These three happened to meet in a visit, 
where an excellent book of warm and refined devot'ons 
lay in the window : What dull stuff is here? says Divi- 
to ; I never read so much nonsense in one page in my 
life, nor would I give a shilling for a thousand vuch trea- 
tises. Aulinus, though a courtier, ind not used to 
speak roughly, yet would not allow there was a line of 
good sense in the book, r*rd r renounced him a madman 
that wrote it in his secret retirement and declared him 
a fool that published it after his death. Politulus had 
more manners than to differ from men of su~h rank and 
character, and therefore he sn- ered at the devout ex<" 
pressions as he heard them read, and made the divine 
treatise a matter of scorn and ridicule ; and yet it was 
well known that neither this fine gentleman, nor the 
courtier, nor the man of wealth, had a grain of devo- 
tion in them beyond their horses that waited at the 
door with their gilded ch < riots. But this is the way of 
the world; blind men will talk of the beauty of colours, 
and of the harmony or disproportion of figures in paint- 
ing ; the deaf will prate of discords in music ; and those 
who have nothing to do with religion will arraign the 
best treatise on divine subjects, though thev do not un- 
derstand the very language of the scripture, nor the 
common terms or phrases used in Christianity. 

VII. I might here name another sort of judges, who 
will set themselves up to decide in favour of an author, 
or will pronounce him a mere blunderer, according to 
the company they have kept, and the judgment they 
have heard passed upon a book by others of their own 
-stamp or size, though they have no knowledge or taste 
of the subject themselves. These with a fluent and vol- 
uble tongue become mere echoes of the praises or cen- 
sures of other men. Sonillus happened to be in the 
room where the three gentlemen just mentioned gave, 
out their thoughts so freely upon an admirable book of 
devotion ; and two days afterwards he met with some 
friends of his, where this book was the subject of con- 
versation and praise. Sonillus wondered at their dulness. 



52 JUDGMENT OF BOOKS. 

and repeated the jests which he had heard east upon 
the weakness of the author. His knowledge of the book 
and his decision upon it w -is a!? from hearsay, for he had 
never seen it, and if he h-ul read it through he had no 
manner of right to judge about the things of religion, 
having no more knowledge or taste of any thine of in^ 
ward piety, than a hedgehog or a bear has of politeness,, 

When I had wntten these remark?., PHdus, who 
knew all the four gentleman, wished they m-ght have an 
opportunity to read their own character as it is repre- 
sented here. Alas ' Probus, I fear it would do them very 
little good, though it may guard others against their fol- 
ly, for there is not one of them would find their own 
name in these characters if they read them, though all 
their acquaintance would acknowledge the features im- 
mediately, and see the persons almost alive in the picture. 

VIII. Tlvre is yet -another mischievous principle 
which prevails among some persons in passing a judg- 
ment on the writings of others, and that is, when from 
the secret stimulations of vanity, pride or envy, thev des» 
pise a valuable Irok, and throw contempt upon it by 
wholesale ; and if you ask them the reason of their se- 
vere censure, they will tell you perhaps that they have 
found a mistake or two in it, or there are a few senti- 
ments or expressions hot suited to their taste anH hu- 
mour. Bavius cries down an admirable treatise of phi- 
losophy, and says there is Atheism in it, bee-use there 
are a few sentences that seem to suppose brutes to be 
mere machines. Under the same influence, Momus 
will not allow Paradise Lost to be a good poem, because 
he had read some flat and heavy lines in it, and he 
thought Milton had too much honour done him. It is a 
paltry humour th .t inclines a man to rail at any human 
performance because it is not absolutely perfect. Hor- 
ace would give us a better example. 

Si'nt delicto temen quibus nos ignovisse velimus, 

Nam neque chorda sonvm reddit qxiem vult mantis et menes; 

Kec semper feriet quodcnnque minabitur arcus: 

Verum nbi phira ni'ent in enrmine, non ego paitcis 

Offend ar maculis, gi/cv nut incuria fudit, 

Ant humana parum cavit natura Hor. de Alt. Poet. 

THUS MAI>E ENGLISH. 
Be not too rig-idly censorious : 
A string may jar in the best master's hand, 
And the most skilful archer miss his aim : 
So in a poem elegantly writ 
I will not quarrel with a small mistake 
Such as our nature's frailty may excuse ...Roscommon, 



JUDGMENT OF BOOKS'. 43 

"This noble translator of Horace, whom I here cite, 
has a very honourable opinion of Homer in the main, 
yet he allows him to be justly censured for some grosser 
spots and blemishes in him. 

For who without aversion ever look'd 
On holy garbage, though by Homer eook'd, 
Whose railing heroes and whose wounded gods 
Make some suspect he snores as well as nods. 

Such wise and just distinctions ought to be made when 
we pass a judgment on mortal things, but envy condemns 
by wholesale. Envy is a cursed plant ; some fibres of it 
are rooted almost in every man's nature, and it works in 
a sly and imperceptible manner, and that even in some 
persons, who in the main are men of wisdom and piety. 
They know not how to bear the praises that are given to 
an ingenious author, especially if he be living and of their 
profession, and therefore they will, if possible, find some 
hlemish in his writings, that they may nibble and bark 
at it. They will endeavour to diminish the honour of the 
best treatise that has been written on any subject, and 
to render it useless by their censures, rather than suffer 
their envy to lie asleep, and the little mistakes of that 
author to pass unexposed. Perhaps they will commend 
the work in general with a pretended air of candour, 
but pass so many sly and invidious remarks upon it af- 
terwards, as shall effectually destroy all their cold and 
formal praises.* 

IX. When a person feels any things of this invidious 
humour working in him, he may by the following consid- 
eration attempt the correction of it. Let him think 
with himself how many are the beauties of such an au- 
thor, whom he censures, in comparison of his blemishes, 
and remember that it is a much more honourable and 
good-natured thing to find out peculiar beauties than 
faults : True and undisguised candour is a much more 
amiable and divine talent than accusation. Let him re- 
flect aeain, what an easy matter it is to find a mistake 
in all human authors, who are necessarily fallible and 
imperfect. 

J confess, where an author sets up himself to ridicule 

* r grant when wisdom itself censures a weak and foolish performance, 
it will pass its severe sentence, and yet with an air of candour, if the au- 
thor has any thing valuable in him : But envy will sometimes imitate the 
same favourable airs, in order to make its false cavils appear more just 
and cvedible, when it has a mind to snarl at some of the brightest per- 
formances of a human writer. 

E ? . 



54 JUDGMENT OF BOOKS. 

divine writers and things sacred, and yet assumes an 
air of sovereignty and dictatorship, to exalt and aimost 
deify all the Pagan ancients, and east his scorn upon all 
the moderns, especially if they do but savour of mira- 
cles and the gospel it is fit the admirers of this author 
should know, that nature and these ancients are not the 
same, though some writers always unite them. Reason 
and nature never made these ancient Heathens their 
standard, either of art or genius, of writing or heroism. 
Sir Richard Steele, in his little Essay, called the Chris- 
tian Hero, has shewn our Saviour and St. Paul in a more 
glorious and transcendent light, than a Virgil or a Ho- 
mer could do for their Achilles, Ulysses, or iEneas ; 
and I am persuaded, if Moses and David had not been 
inspired writers, these very men would have ranked 
them at least-with Herodotus and Horace, if not given 
them the superior place. 

But where an author has many beauties consistent 
with virtue, piety and truth, let not little critics exalt 
themselves, and shower down their ill nature upon him 
without bounds or measure ; but rather stretch their 
own powers cf soul till th^-y write a treatise superior to 
that which they condemn. This is the noblest and sur-» 
est manner of suppressing what thev censure. 

A little wit, or a little learning, with a good degree of 
vani' y and ill nature, will teach a man to pour out whole 
pages of remark and reproach upon one real or fancied 
mistake of a great and good .author ; and this may be 
dressed up by the same talents, and made entertaining 
enough to the world, who love reproach and scandal ; 
but if the remarker would but once make this attempt, 
and try to outshine the author by writing a better book 
on the same subject,. he would soon be convinced of his 
own insufficiency, and perhaps might learn to judge 
more justly and favourablv of the performance of other 
men. A cobler or a shoemaker may find some little 
fault with the latchet of a shoe that an Apelles had 
painted, and pprhaps with justice too ; when the whole 
figure and portraiture is such as none but Apel! .scou'd 
paint. Every poor low genius may cavil at what the 
richest and the noblest hath performed; but it is a sign 
of envy and malice, added to the littleness and poverty 
of genius, when such a cav.d becomes a sufficient reason 
to pronounce at once against a bright author, and a 
whole valuable treatise. 



JUDGMENT OF BOOKS. 55 

X. Another, and that a very frequent fault, in pass- 
ing a judgment upon books, is this, that persons spread 
the same praises or the same reproaches over a whole 
treatise, and all the chapters in it, which are due only 
to some of them. They judge as it were by wholesale, 
without making a due distinction between the several 
parts or sections of the performance ; and this is ready 
to lead those who hear them talk into a dangerous mis- 
take. Florus is a great and just admirer of the late 
Archbishop of Cambray, and mightily commends every 
thing he has written, and will allow no blemish in him; 
whereas the writings of that excellent man are not all 
of a piece, nor are those very books of his, which have 
a good number of beautiful and valuable sentiments in 
them, to be recomm; nded throughout, or all at once 
without distinction . There is his demonstration of the 
existence and attributes of God, which has justly gained 
an universal esteem for bringing down some new and 
noble thoughts of the wisdom cf the creation to the un- 
derstanding of the unlearned, and they are such as well 
deserve the perusal of the man ot science, perhaps as 
far as the 50th section : but there are many of the fol- 
lowing sections, which are very weakly written, and 
some of them built upon an enthusiastiral and mistaken 
scheme, akin to the peculiar opinions of father Male- 
branche ; such as sec 51, 53. That we know the finite, 
only by the ideas of the infinite* Sec. 55, 60. That 
the superior reason in man is God himself acting in 
him. Sec. 61, 62. That the idea of unity cannot be 
taken from creatures, but from God only ; a .d several 
of his sections, from 65 to 68, upon the doctrine of lib- 
erty, seem to be inconsistent. Again, towauls the end 
of his book, he spends more time and p- ins th;sn are 
needful, in refuting the Epicurean fancy of atoms mov- 
ing eternally through infinite changes, which might be 
done effectually in a much shorter and better way. 

So in his Posthumous Essays, and his Letters, there 
are many admirable thoughts in practical and experi- 
mental religion, and very beautiful and divine senti- 
ments on devotion ;but sometimes in lzrge paragraphs, 
or in whole chapters together, you find him in the clouds 
of mystic divinity, and he never descends within the 
reach of common ideas or common sense. 

Put remember this also, that there are but few such 
authors as this great man, who talks sp very weakly 



56 JUDGMENT OF BOOKS. 

sometimes, and yet in other places is so much superior 
to the greatest part of writers. 

There are other instances of this kind, where men of 
good sense in the main, set up for Judges, but th^y cany 
too many of their passions about them, and then, like 
lovers, they are in rapture at the name of their fair idol ; 
they lavish out all their incense upon that shrine, and 
cannot bear the thought of admitting a blemish in them. 

You shall hear Altisono not only admire Casimereof 
Poland in his lyrics, as the utmost purity and perfection 
of Latin poesy, but he will allow nothing in him to be ex- 
travagant or faulty, and will vindicate every line ; nor 
can I much wonder at it when I have heard him pro- 
nounce Lucun the best of the ancient Latins, and idolize 
his very weaknesses and mistakes. I will readily ac- 
knowledge the Odes of Casimere to have more spirit 
and force, more magnificence and fire in them, and in 
twenty places arise to more dignity and beauty, than T 
cou'd ever meet with in any of our modern poets ; yet I 
am afraid to say, that " Pala sutilis e luce" has dignity 
enough in it for a robe made for the Almightv, Lib. 4. 
Od. 7. 1. 37; or that the Man of Virtue in Od. 3. I 44. 
under the ruins of heaven and earth, will bear up the 
fragments of the fallen world with a comely wound on 
his shoulders. 

............ lateruenti 

Subjiciens sun rolla caelo 
Mundum decora vulnrre f'ulciet : 
Interque cceli fragmina. 

Yet I must needs confess also, that it is hardly possi- 
ble a man should rise to so exalted and sublime a vein 
of poesy as Casimere, who is not in danger now and then 
of such extravagancies ; but still they should not be ad- 
mired or defended, if we pretend to pass a just judgment 
on the writings of the greatest men. 

Milton is a noble genius, and the world agrees to con- 
fess it ; his poem of Paradise Lost is a glorious perform- 
ance, and rivals the most famous pieces of antiquity ; 
but that reader must be deeply prejudiced in favour of 
the poet, who can imagine him equal to himself through 
all that work Neither the sublime sentiments, nor dig- 
nity of numbers, nor force or beauty of expression, are 
equally maintained, even in all those parts which re- 
quire grandeur or beauty, force or harmony. I cannot 
but consent to Mr. Dryden's opinion, though I will net 



of living' instructions, «&c. 57 

use his words, that for s^me scores of lines together, 
there is a coldness and flatness, and almost a perfect 
absence of that spirit of poesy, wltich breathes and lives 
and flames in other pages. 

XL When you hear any person pretending to give 
his judgment of a book,, consider with yourself whether 
he he n capable judge, or whether he may not lie under 
some unhappy bias or prejudice for or against it, or 
whether he has made a sufficient inquiry to form his 
justest sentiments upon it. 

Though he be a man of good sense, yet he is incapa- 
ble of passing a true judgment of a particular book, if he 
be not well acquainted with the subject of which it treats, 
and the manner in which it is written, be it in verse or 
prose; or if he hath not had an < pportunity or leisure 
to 1 ok sufficient W into the wtiting itself. 

Again, though he t>e ever so capable of judging on aft 
other accounts, by the knowledge of the subject, and of 
the book itself, yet you are to consider also whether 
there be any thine in the author, in his manner, in his 
language, in his opinions, and his particular party, which 
may warp the sentiments of hi™ that judgeth, to think 
well or ill of the treatise, and to pass toi favourable or 
too severe a sentence concerning it. 

If you find that he is either an unfit fudge because of 
his ignorance, or because of his prejudices, his judgment 
of thar book should go fo^ nothing Philographo is a 
good divine, an useful preacher, and an approved ex- 
positor of scripture, but he never had a taste for any of 
the polite learning of the age ; he was fond of every 
thing that appeared in a devout dress, but all verse was 
alike to him. He told me last week there was a very 
fine book of poems published on the three Christian 
graces. Faith. Hope and Charity, and a most eleeant 
p'^ce of oratory on the four lw-st things, Deat^, Judgment, 
Heaven, and Hell. Do ycu think I shall buy either of 
those books merely on Phvlo^rapho's recommendation ? 



chap vm VI. 

Of living Instructions and Lectures, of Teachers and 
Learners, 

I. THERE are a few persons of so penetrating a 
genius, and so just a judgment, as to be capable of learn-* 



68 OF LIVING INSTRUCTIONS, &C. 

ing the arts and sciences without the assistance of teach* 
ers. There is scarcely any,science so safely and so speed- 
ily learned, even by the noblest genius and the best books, 
without a tutor. His assistance is absolutely necessary 
for most persons,, and it is very useful for all beginners. 
Books are a sort of dumb teachers ; they point out the 
way to learning ; but if we labour under any doubt or 
mistake, they cannot answer sudden questions, or ex-? 
plain present doubts and difficulties ; this is properly 
the work of a living instructer. 

II. There are very few tutors who are sufficiently 
furnished with such universal learning, as to sustain all 
the parts and provinces of instruction. The sciences 
are numerous, and many of them lie far wide of each 
other ; and it is best to enjoy the instructions of two or 
three tutors at least, in order to run through the whole 
encyclopoedia, or circle of sciences, where it may be ob- 
tained : then we may expect that each will teach the 
few parts of learning which are committed to his care, 
in greater perfection. But where this advantage can- 
not be had with convenience, one great man must sup- 
ply the place of two or three common instructers. 

III. It is not sufficient that instructers be competent- 
ly skilled in those sciences which they profess and teach; 
but they should have skill also in the art or method of 
teaching, and patience in the practice of it. 

It is a great unhappiness indeed, when persons, by a 
spirit of party, or faction, or interest, or by purchase, 
are set up for tutors, who have neither due knowledge 
of science, nor skill in the way of communication. And, 
alas ! there are others, who with all their ignorance and 
insufficiency, have self admiration and effrontery enough 
to set up themselves ; and the poor pupils fare accord- 
ingly, and grow lean in their understandings. 

And let it be observed also, there are some very learn- 
ed men, who know much themselves, but have not the 
talent of communicating their own knowledge ; or else 
they are lazy, and will take no pains at it. Either they 
have an obscure and perplexed way of talking, or they 
show their learning uselessly, and make a long periphra- 
sis on every word of the book they explain, or they can- 
not condescend to young beginners, or they run present* 
lv into the elevated parts of the science, because it gives 
themselves greater pleasure, or they are soon angry 
ahd impatient, and cannot bear with a few impertinent 



OF LIVING INSTRUCTIONS, &C. 59 

questions of a young, inquisitive,- and sprightly genius; 
or else they skim over a science hi a very slight and su- 
perficial survey, and never lead their discipies into the 
depth of it. 

IV. A good tutor should have characters and qualify, 
cations very different from all these. He is such an one 
as both can and will apply himself with diligence and 
concern, and indefatigable patience, to effect what he 
undertakes ; to teach his disciples, and see that they 
learn ; to adapt his way and method as near as may be 
to the various dispositions, as well as to the capacities of 
those whom he instructs, and to enquire often into their 
progress and improvement. 

And he should take particular care of his own tem- 
per and conduct, that there be nothing in him or 
about him which may be of bad example; nothing that 
may savour of a haughty temper, or a mean and sordid 
spirit ; nothing that may expose him to the aversion or 
to the contempt of his scholars, or create a prejudice in 
their minds against him and his instructions ; but- if pos- 
sible, lie should have so much of a natural candour and 
sweetness mixed with all the improvements of learn- 
ing, as might convey knowledge into the minds of his 
disciples with a sort of gentle insinuation and sovereign 
deiight, and may tempt them into the highest improve- 
ments of their reason by a resistless and insensible force. 
But 1 shall have occasion to say more on this subject 
when I come to speak more directly of the methods of 
the communication of knowledge. 

V. The learner should attend with constancy and 
care on all the instructions of his tutor, and if he hap- 
pens to be at any time unavoidably hindered, he must 
endeavour to retrieve the loss by double industry for the 
time to come. He should always recollect and review 
his lectures, read over some other author or authors up- 
on the same subject, confer upon it with his instructor or 
with his associates, and write down the clearest result 
of his present thoughts, reasonings, and enquiries.which 
he may have recourse to hereafter, either to re-examine 
them and apply them to proper use, or to improve 
them further to his own advantage. 

VI. A student should never satisfy himself with bare 
attendance on the lectures of his tutor, unless he clearly 
takes up his sense and meaning, and understands the 
things which he teaches, A young disciple should be-' 



60 1 OF LIVING INSTRUCTIONS, &C. 

have himself so well as to gain the affection and ear 
of his instructer, that upon every occasion he may with 
the utmost freedom ask questions, and talk over his own . 
sentiments, his doubts and difficulties with him, and in a 
humble and modest manner, desire the solution of them. 
VII Let the learner endeavour to maintain an hon- 
ourable opinion of his instructer, and carefully listen to 
liis instructions, as one willing to be led by a more ex- 
perienced guide ; and though he is not bound to fall in 
with every sentiment of his tutor, yet he should so far 
comply with him as to resolve upon a just consideration 
of the matter, and try and examine it thoroughly with 
an honest heart, before he presume to determine against 
him, And then it should be done with great modesty, 
with a humble jealousy of himself, and apparent unwil- 
lingness to differ from his tutor, if the lorce of argument 
and truth did not constrain him. 

VIII. It is a frequent and growing foily in our age, 
that pert young disciples soon fancy themselves wiser 
than those who teach them ;- at the first view, or upon 
a very little thought, they can discern the insignificancy, 
weakness and mistake of what their teacher asserts 
The youth of our day, by an early petulancy, and pre- 
tended liberty of thinking for themselves, dare reject at 
once, and that with a sort of scorn, all those sentiments* 
and doctrines which their teachers have determined, 
perhaps after long and repeated consideration, atter 
years of mature study, careful observation, and much 
prudent experience. 

IX. It is true, teachers and masters are not infallible, 
nor are they always in the right ; and it must be ac- 
knowledged it is a matter of some difficulty for younger 
minds to maintain a just and solemn veneration for the 
authority and advice of their parents, and the instruc- 
tion of their tutors, and yet at the same time to secure 
to themselves a just freedom in their own thoughts. We 
are sometimes too ready to imbibe all their sentiments 
without examination, if we reverence and love them ; 
or, on the other hand, if we take all freedom to contest 
their opinions, we are sometimes tempted to cast off 
that love and reverence to their persons which God and 
nature dictate. Youth is ever in danger of these two 
extremes. 

X. But I think I may safely conclude thus : Though 
the authority of a teacher must not absolutely determine 



OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE, 



61 



the judgment of hispupu, yet young and raw and inex* 
perienced learners should pay ail proper deference tnat 
can be to the instructions ot their parents and teachers, 
snoi\ of absolute submission to their dictates. Yet still 
we must maintain this, that they should never re& he 
any opinion into their assent, whether it be conformable 
or contrary to the tutor's mind, without sufficient evi- 
dence of it first given to their own reasoning powers. 



CHAPTER VII. 

-Of learning a Language, 

THE first thing required in reading an author, or in 
hearing lectures of a tutor, is, that you well understand 
the language in which they write or speak. Living 
languages, or such as the native tongue of any nation in 
the present age, are more easily learned and taught by 
a few rules and much familiar converse, joined to the 
reading o£some proper authors.Thedead languages are 
such as cease to be spoken in any nation ; and even 
these are more easy to be taught, as far as may be, in 
that method wherein living languages are best learned; 
i. e. partly by ruse, and pa tly by rote or custom. And 
it may not be improper in this place to mention a very 
few directions for that purpose. 

I. Begin with the most necessary and most general 
observations and rules which belong to that language, 
compiled m toe form of a grammar; and these are but 
few in most languages. The regular dec;ensions and 
variations of nouns and verbs should be early and thor- 
oughly learned by heart, together with twenty or thirty 
of the plainest and most necessary rules of syntax. 

But let it be observed, that in almost all ianguages 
some of the- most common nouns ad verbs have many 
irregularities in the n ; such are the common auxiliary 
verbs to be, and to have, to do, and to be done* &c. 
The comparatives and superlatives of the words, good, 
bad, greut, much, small, little, &c. and these should be 
iearned among the first rules and variations, because 
they continually occur. 

But as to other words which are less frequent, let but 
few of tiie anomalies or irregularities of the tongue be 
taught among the general rules to young beginners* 
F 



62 OE LEARNING A LANGUAGE. 

These will come in afterwards to be learned by advan- 
ced scholars, in a way of notes on the rules, as in the 
Latin grammar, called the Oxford grammar, or in 
Ruddiman's notes on his rudiments, &c. Or they may 
be learned by examples alone, when they do occur; 
or by a larger and more complete system of grammar, 
which descends to the more particular forms of speech; 
so, the heteroclite nouns of the Latin tongue which are 
taught in the school book called Qua Genus, should 
not be touched in the first learning of the rudiments of 
that tongue . 

II. As the grammar by which you learn any tongue 
should be very short at first, so it must be written in a 
tongue with which you are well acquainted, and which 
is very familiar to you. Therefore I much prefer the 
common English Accidence (as it is called) to any 
grammar whatsoever, written in Latin for this end. 
The English Accidence has, doubtless, many faults ; 
but those editions of it which were printed since the 
year 1728, under the correction of a learned professor, 
are the best, or the English rudiments of the Latin 
tongue, by that learned North Briton, Mr. Ruddiman, 
wnich are perhaps the most useful books of this kind 
which I am acquainted with ; especially because 1 
would not depart too far from the ancient and common 
forms of teaching, which several good grammarians 
have done, to the great detriment of such lads as have 
been removed to other schools. 

The tiresome and unreasonable method of learning 
the Latin tongue, by a grammar with Latin rules, 
would appear, even to those masters wiio teach it so, 
in its proper colours of absurdity and ridicule, if those 
very masters would attempt to learn the Chinese or 
Arabic tongue, by a grammar written in the Chinese or 
Arabic language. Mr. Clarke of Hull, has said enough 
in a few pages of the preface to this new grammar, 1723, 
to make that practice appear very irrational and im- 
proper ; though he has said it in so warm and angry a 
manner that it has kindled Mr. Ruddiman to write 
against him, and to say what can be said to vindicate a 
practice, wnich I think is utterly indeiensibler 

III. At the same time when you begin the rules, begin 
also the practice. As for instance, when you decline 
musa musa, read and construe the same day, some 
easy Latin author by the help of a tutor, or with some 



Of LEARNING A LANGUAGE. G3 

English translation ; choose such a book whose style is 
simple, and the subject of discourse very plain, obvious, 
and not hard to be understood ; many little books have 
been composed with this view, as Corderius's Collo- 
quies, some of Erasmus's tittle writings, the savings of the 
wise men of Greece, Cata's Moral Distiches, and the 
rest which are collected at the end of Mr. Ruddiman's 
English Grammar, or the LatinTestamentof Ostellio's 
translation, which is accounted the purest Latin, &c. 
These ar** very proper upon this occasion, together 
with iEsop's and Phscdrus's Fables, and little stories, 
and the common and daily affairs of domestic life, writ- 
ten in the Latin tongue. But let the higher pre:?, and 
orators, and historians, and other writers, whose lanr 
guage is more laboured, and whose sense is more re- 
mote from common life, be rather kept out of sight un- 
til there be some proficiency made in the language. 

It is strange that masters should teach children so 
early Tullv's Epistles, or Orations, or. the poems of 
Ovid or Virgil, whose sense is often difficult to find, 
because of the great transposition of the words ; and 
when they have foU';d the grammatical sense, they 
have very little use of it, because they have scarcely 
any notion of the ideas and designs of the writer, it 
being so remote from the knowledge of a child ; 
whereas, little common stories and colloquies, and the 
rules of a child's behaviour, and such obvious subjects, 
will much better assist the memory of the words by 
their acquaintance with the things. 

IV. Here it may be useful also to appoint the learn- 
er to get by heart the more common and useful words, 
both nouns and adjectives, pronouns and verbs, nut of 
some well formed and judicious vocabulary. This will 
furnish him with names for the most familiar ideas. 

V. As soon as ever the learner is capable, let the tu- 
tor converse with him in the tongue which is to be 
learned, if it be a living language, or if it be Latin, 
which is the living language of the learned world ; thus 
he will acquaint himself a little with it by rote, as well 
as by rule, and by living practice, >as well as by reading 
the writings of the dead. For if a child of two years old by 
this method learns to speak his mother tongue, I am 
sure the same method will greatly assist and facilitate 
the learning of any other language to those who are elder. 

VI. Let the chief lessons and the chief exercises of 



€4 OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE. 

schools, v. c. where Latin is used fat least for the first 
year or more) be the nouns, verbs, and genera! rules of 
syntax, together with a mere translation nu> of some 
Latin author into English ; and let scholars be employ- 
ed and examined bv their teacher, daily, in reducing 
the words to their original or th me, to the first case if 
nouns or first tense of verbs, and giving an account of 
their formations and changes. then syntax and depend- 
encies, which is called parsing. This is a most useful 
exercise to lead boys into a complete and thorough 
knowledge of what they are doing. 

The English translations which thelearner has made, 
should be well corrected by the master, and then they 
should be translated back again for the next day's exer- 
cise, by the child, into Latin, while the Latin author is 
withheld from him ; but he should have the Latin words 
given him in their first case and tense, and should never 
be left to seek them himself from a dictionary ; and the 
nearer he translates it to the words of the author whence 
he derives his English, the more should the child be 
commended. Thus will he gain skill in two languages 
at once. I think Mr. Clarke has done good service to 
the public by his translations of Latin books for this end. 

But let the foolish custom of employing every silly 
boy to make themes or declamations, and verses upon 
moral subjects, in a strange tongue, before .he under^ 
stands common sense, even in his own language, be 
abandoned and cashiered forever. 

VII. As the learner improves let him acquaint him- 
self with the anomalous words, the irregular declen- 
sions of nouns and verbs, the more uncommon connex- 
ions of words in syntax, and the exceptions to the gen- 
eral rules of grammar ; but let them all be reduced, as 
far as possible, to those several original and general 
rules which he has learned, as the proper rank and 
place to which they belong. 

VIII. While he is doing this, it may be proper for him 
to converse with authors which are a little more diffi- 
cult, with historians, orators, and poets, &c. but let his 
tutor inform him of the Roman or Greek customs which 
occur therein. Let the lad then translate some parts 
of them into his mother tongue, or into some other well 
known langua e, and thence back again into the origi- 
nal language of the author. But let the verse be trans- 
lated into prose, for poesy does not belong to grammar- 



OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE. 65 

IX. By this time he will be able to acquaint himself 
with some of the special, emphases of speech, and the 
peculiar idioms of the tongue. He should be* taught 
also the special beauties and ornaments of the language ; 
and this may be done partly by the help of authors who 
have collected such idioms and cast them into an easy 
method, and partly by the judicious remarks which his 
instructor may make upon the authors which he reads, 
wheresoever such peculiarities of speech or special ele- 
gancies occur. 

X. Though the labour of learning all the lessons by 
heart that are borrowed from poetical authors which 
they construe, is an unjust and unnecessary imposition 
upon the learner, yet he must take the pains to commit 
to memory the most necessary, if not all the common, 
rules of grammar, with an example or two under each 
of them ; and some of the select and most useful pe- 
riods or sentences in the Latin or Greek author which 
he reads may be learned by heart, together with some 
of" the choicer lessons out of their poets ; and sometimes 
whole episodes out of heroic poems, &c. as well as 
whole odes among the lyrics, may deserve this honour. 

XI. Let this be always carefully observed, that the 
learners perfectly understand the sense as well as the 
language of all those rules, lessons, or paragraphs, 
which they attempt to commit to memory Let the 
teacher possess them of their true meaning, and then 
the labour will become easy and pleasant ; whereas to 
impose on a child to get by heart a long scroll of un- 
known phrases, or words without any ideas under 
them, is a piece of useless tvrannv, a cruel imposition, 
and a practice fitter for a jackdaw or a parrot, than 
for any thing that wears the shape of a man. 

XII. And here, I think, I have a fair occasion given 
me to consider that question which has been often de- 
bated in conversation, viz. Whether the teaching of a 
school full of boys to learn Latin by the Heathen poets, 
as Ovid in his Epistles, and the silly fables of his Meta- 
morphoses, Horace, Juvenal, and Martial, in their im- 
pure Odes, Satires, Epigrams, &c. is a proper and 
agreeable practice in a Christian country. 

XIII. (1.) I grant the language and style of those 
men who wrote in their own native tongue, must be 
more pure and perfect, in some nice elegancies and pe- 
culiarities, than modern writers of ethers nations who 

F 2 



66 OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE. 

have imitated them ; and it is owned also that the beau- 
ties of their poesy may much excel; but in either of 
these things boys cannot be supposed- to be much im* 
proved or injured by one or the other. 

XIV. (2.) It shall be confessed too, that modern poets, 
in every living language, have brought into their works 
so many words,epithets,phrases,andmetaphors,from the 
Heathen fables and stories of their gods and heroes, that 
in order to understand these modern writers, it is nec- 
essary to understand something of those ancient foliies ; 
but it may be answered, that a good dictionary, or such 
a book as the Pantheon, or history of those Gentile de- 
ities, may give sufficient information of those stories, so 
far as they are necessary and useful to school boys. 

XV. (3.) I will grant yet further, that lads who are 
designed to make great scholars or divines may,by read- 
ing these Heathen poets, be taught better to understand 
the writings of the ancient fathers against the Heathen 
religion ; and they learn here what ridiculous fooleries 
the Gentile nations believed as the articles of their faith; 
what wretched and foul idolatries they indulged and 
practised as duties of religion, for want of the light 
of divine revelation. But this perhaps may be learned as 
well either by the Pantheon, or some other collection, at 
school * or after they have left the school, they may 
read what their own inclinations lead them to, and 
whatsoever of this kind may be really useful for them. 

XVI. But the great question is, Whether all these ad- 
vantages which have been mentioned will compensate 
for the long months and years that are wasted among 
their incredible and trifling romances, their false and 
shameful stories of the gods and goddesses and their a- 
mours, and of the lewd heroes and vicious poets of the 
Heathen world ? Can these idle and ridiculous tales be 
of any real and solid advantage in human life ? Do they 
not too often defile the mind with vain, mischievous 'aid 
impure ideas ? Do they not stick long upon the fancy, 
and leave an unhappy influence upon youth ? Do they 
not tincture the imagination with folly and vice, very 
early, and pervert it from all that is good and holy ? 

XVII. Upon the whole survey of things, it is my opin- 
ion, that for almost all boys who learn this tongue, it 
would be much safer to be taught Lntin poesy (as soon 
and as far as they can need it) from those excellent 
translations of David's Psalms, which are given us by 



OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE. 67 

Buchanan in the various measures of Horace ; and the 
lower classes had better read Dr. Johnston's translation 
of these Psalms, another elegant writer of the Scots na- 
tion, instead of Ovid's Epistles ; for he has turned the 
same Psalms, perhaps with greater elegance, into ele- 
giac verse, whereof the learned W. Benson, Esq. has 
published a noble edition, and I hear that these 
Psalms are honoured with an increasing use in the 
schools of Holland and Scotland. A stanza or a couplet 
of these writers, would now and then fasten upon the 
minds of youth, and would furnish them infinitely better 
with pious and moral thoughts, and do something to- 
wards making them good men and Christians. 

XVIII. A little book collected from the Psalms of 
both these translators, Buchanan and Johnston, and a 
few other Christian poets, would be of excellent use for 
schools to begin their instructions in Latin poesy ; and I 
am well assured this would be richly sufficient for all 
those in lower rank, who never design a learned pro- 
fession, and yet custom has foolishly bound them to learn 
that language. 

But lest it should be thought hard to cast Horace and 
Virgil, Ovid and Tuvenal entirely out of the sohools, I 
add, if here and there a few lyric odes, or pieces of sat- 
ires, or some episodes of heroic verse, with here and 
there an epigram of Martial,all which shall be pure and 
clear from the stains of vice and impiety, and which 
may inspire the mind with noble sentiments, fire the 
fancy with bright and warm ideas, or teach lessons of 
morality and prudence, were chosen out of those an- 
cient Roman writers for the use of the schools, and 
were collected and printed in one moderate volume, or 
two at the most, it would be abundantly sufficient pro- 
vision out of the Roman poets for the instruction of boys 
in all that is necessary in that age of life. 

Surely Juvenal hiimelf would not have the face to 
vindicate the masters who teach boys his sixth satire, 
and many paragraphs of several others, when he him- 
self has charged us, 

Nil dictu fcedum, visuque hece litnina tangat 

Intra quacpuer est. Sat. 14. 

Suffer no lewdness, nor indecent speech, 

Th' apartment of the tender youth to reach..... Dry den. 

Thus far in answer to the foregoing question. But I 
retire ; for Mr. Clark, of Hull, in his treatise on Edu- 



68 OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE. 

cation, and Mr. Phillips, preceptor to the Duke of 
Cumberland, have given more excellent directions for 
learning L itin. 

XIX. When a language is learned, if it be of any use 
at all, it is a pity it should be forgotten again It is, 
proper, therefore, to take all just opportunities to read 
something frequently in that language, when other ne- 
cessary and important studies will give y n u leave. As 
in learning any tongue, dictionaries which contain word's 
and phrases shnuld be always at hand, so thev should 
be ever kept within reach by persons who would re- 
member a tongue which they have learned. Nor 
should we at any time content ourselves with a doubt- 
ful guess at the sense or meaning of ^ny words which 
occur, but consult the dictionary, which may give us 
certain information, and thus secure us from mistake. 
It is mere sloth which makes us content ourselves with 
uncertain guesses ; and indeed this is neither safe nor 
useful for, persons who would learn any language or 
science, or have a desire to retain what they have ac- 
quire:!. 

XX. When yoa have learned one or many languages 
ever so perfectly, take heed of priding yourself in these 
acquisitions ; thev are but mere treasures of words, or 
instruments of true and solid knowledge ; and whose 
chief design is to lead us into an acquaintance with 
things, or to enable us the more easily to convey those 
ideas or that knowledge to others. An acquaintance 
with the various tongues is nothing else but a relief 
against the mischief which the building of Babel intro- 
duced; and were I master of as many languages as 
were spoken at Babel, I should make but a poor pre- 
tence to true learning or knowledge, if I had not clear 
and distinct ideas, and useful notions in mv head, un- 
der the words which my tongue could pr nounce. Yet 
so unhappy a thing is human nature, that this sort of 
knowledge of sounds and syllables, is ready to putF up 
the mind with vanitv, more than the most valuable and 
solid improvements of it. The pride of a grammarian, 
or a critic i generally exceeds that of a philosopher. 



SNOWING THE SENSE, &e. €0 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Of inquiring into the Smse and Meaning of any Wri« 
termor Speaker, and especially the Sense of the £a~ 
credJVriiings. 

IT is a great unhappiness that there is such an am- 
biguity in words and forms of speech, that the same 
sentence may be drawn into different significations ; 
whereby it happens, that it is difficult sometimes 
for the reader exactly to hit upon the ideas which the 
writer or speaker had in his mind. Some of the best 
rules to direct us herein are such as these : 

I." Be well acquainted with 'he tongue itself, or lan- 
guage wherein the author's mind is expressed. Learn 
not only the true meaning of each word, but the sense 
which those words obtain when placed in such a par- 
ticular situation and order. Acquaint yourself with, 
the peculiar power and emphasis of the several modes 
of speech, and the various idioms of the tongue, The 
secondary ideas which custom has superadded to ma- 
ny words, should also he known, as well as the partic- 
ular and primstry meaning of them, if we would un- 
derstand any writer. See Logic, Part I Chaft. 4 $ 3. 

II. Consider the signification of those words and 
phrases, more especially in the same nation, or near 
the same age in which that writer lived, and in what 
sense they are used by authors of the same nation, 
opinion, sect, party, &c. 

Upon this account we may learn to interpret several 
phrases of the New Testament out of that version of 
the Hebrew Bible, into Greek, which is c- lied the Sep- 
tuagint ; for though that version be very imperfect and 
defective in many things, vet it seems to me evident, 
that the holy writers of the New T stament made use 
of tint version many times in their citation f texts out 
of the Bible. 

III. Compare the words and phrases'n one place of 
an author with the same or kindred words and phrases 
used in other places of the same author, which a^ e gen* 
erally called parallel places; and as one expression 
explains another which is like it, so sometimes a con. 
fcrary expression will explain its contrary. Remember 



' u OF KNOWING THE SENSE 

alwavs, that a writer best interprets himself; and as 
■we believe the Holy Spirit to be the supreme agent in 
the writings of the Old Testament and the New, he 
can best explain himself Hence the theological rule 
arises, that scripture is the best interpreter of scrip- 
ture ; and therefore Concordances, which show us par- 
allel places, are of excellent use for interpretation. 

IV. Consider the subject of which the author is treat- 
ing, and by comparing other places where he treats of 
the same subject, you may learn his sense in the p;ace 
■which you are reading, though some of the terms 
which he uses in those two places may be very different. 

And on the other hand, if the author use the same 
words where the subject of which he treats is not just 
the same, you cannot learn his sense by comparing 
those two places, though the mere words may seem 
to agree ; for some authors, when they are treating of 
a quite different subject, may use perhaps the same 
words in a very different sense, as St. Paul does the 
words faith, and law, and righteousness. 

V. Observe the scope and design of the writer ; in- 
quire into his aim and end in that book, or section, or 
paragraph, which will help to explain particular sen- 
tences; for we suppose a wise and judicious writer di- 
rects his expressions generally towards his designed 
end- 

VI. When an author speaks of any subject occasion- 
ally, let his sense be explained by those places where 
he treats of it distinctly and professedly ; where he 
treats of any subject in mystical or metaphorical terms, 
explain them by other places where he treats of the 
same subject in terms that are plain and literal ; where 
he speaks in an oratorical, affecting, or persuasive way, 
let this be explained by other places where he treats of 
the same theme in a doctrinal or instructive way ; 
where the author speaks more strictly, and particular- 
ly on any theme, it will explain the mere loose and gen- 
eral expressions ; where he treats more largely, it will 
explain the shorter hints and brief intimations ; and 
wheresoever he writes more obscurely, search out some 
more perspicuous passages in the same writer, by which 
to determine the sense of that obscure language. 

VII. Consider not only the person who is introduced 
speaking, but the persons to whom the speech is direct- 
ed, the circumstances of time and place, the temper 



OF WRITERS AND SPEAKERS. 71 

and spirit of the speaker, as we;l a» the temper and 
spirit of the hearers ; in order to interpret scripture 
well, there needs a good acquaintance with the Jewish, 
customs, some knowledge of the ancient Roman and 
Greek times and manners, which sometimes strike a 
strange and surprising light upon passages which be- 
fore were very obscure* 

VIII. In particular propositions, the sense of an au- 
thor may be sometimes known by the inferences which 
he draws from them ; and all those senses may be ex- 
cluded, which will not allow of that inference. 

Note. This rule indeed is not always certain in ready- 
ing and interpreting nun. an authors, because they may 
mistake in drawing their inferences; but in explaining 
scripture it is a sure rule ; for the sacred and inspired 
writers always make just inferences from their own 
propositions. Yet even in them we must take heed we 
do not mistake an allusion for an inference, which is 
many times introduced almost in the same manner. 

IX. If it be a matter of controversy, the true sense 
of the author is sometimes known by the objections 
that are brought against it. So we may be well as- 
sured, the Apostle speaks against our justification in 
the sight of God by our own works of holiness in the 3d. 
4th. and 5lh chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, be- 
cause of the objection brought against him in the be- 
ginning of the 6tU chapter, viz. ' What shall ive say 
then ? Shall we continue in sin % that grace may 
abound?" Which objection could never have been 
raised, if he had been proving our justification by our 
own works of righteousness. 

X. In matters of dispute, take heed of warping the 
sense of the writer to your own opinion; by any latent 
prejudices of self love and party spirit. It is this reign- 
ing principle of prejudice and party that has given such, 
a variety of senses both to the sacred writers and oth- 
ers, which would never have come into the mind of 
the reader, if he had not laboured under some such, 
prepossessions. 

XI. For the same reason take heed of the prejudices 
of passion, m Alice, envy, pride, or opposition to an 
author, whereby you may be k <sily tempted to put a 
false and invidious sens** upon his words Lay aside 
therefore a carping spirit, and read even idversaryr 
with attention and diligence, with an hontst design to 



72 OF CONVERSATION ANfi 

find out his true meaning ; do not catch at little la^ 
ses and appearances ot mistake, in opposition to his 
declared and avowed meaning ; nor impute any sense 
or opinion to him which he denies to be his opinion, un- 
less* it be proved by the most plain and express Ian 
guage. 

Lastly, Remember that you treat every author, writ 
er, or speaker, just as you yourself would be willing 
to be treated by others, who are searching out the 
meaning of what you write or speak ; and maintain 
upon your spirit an awful sense of the presence of God* 
who is the jutige uf hearts, and will punish those, who, 
by a base and dishonest turn of mind, wilfully pervert 
the meaning ot tne sacred writers, or even of common 
authors, under the influence of culpable prejudices. 
See Move's Logic, Part L Cfiafi. 6. § 3. "Directions 
concerning the Definition of Names/' 






CHAPTER IX. 

Mules of Improvement by Conversation* 

I. IF we would improve our minds by conversation^ 
it is a great happiness to be acquainted with persons 
wiser than ourselves. It is a piece of useful advice, 
therefore, to get the favour or" their conversation fre- 
quently, as far as circumstances will allow ; and if 
they happen to be a little reserved, use all obliging 
methods to draw out of them what may increase your 
own knowledge. 

II. Whatsoever company you are in, waste not the 
time in trifles and impertinence. If you spend some 
tours amongst children, talk with them according to 
their capacity; mark the young buddings of infant 
reason ; observe the different motions and distinct 
workings of the animal and the mind, as far as you can 
discern them ; take notice by what degrees the little 
creature grows up to the use of his reasoning powers, 
and what early prejudices beset and endanger his un- 
derstanding. By this means you will learn how to ad- 
dress yourself to children for their benefit, and per- 
haps you may derive some useful philosophemes or 
theorems for your own entertainment. 

III. If vou happen to be in company with a merchant 



OF PROFITING BY IT. 73 

or a sailor, a farmer or a mechanic, a milk-maid or 
a spinster, lead them into a discourse of the matters 
of their own peculiar province or profession ; for eve- 
ry one knows, or should know his own business best. 
In this sense, a common mechanic is wiser than a phi- 
losopher. By this means you may gain some improve- 
ment in knowledge from every one you meet. 

IV. Confine not yourself always to one class of com- 
pany, or to persons of the same party or opinion,either 
in matters of learning, religion, or the civil life, lest, if 
you should happen to be nursed up or educated in early- 
mistake, you should be confirmed and established in 
the same mistake, by converging only with persons of 
the same sentiments. A free and general conversation 
with men of very various countries, and of different 
parties, opinions and practices, (so far as it may be 
done safely) is of excellent use to undeceive us in many 
wrong judgments which we may have framed, and to 
lead us into juster thoughts. It is said, when the king 
of Stam, near China, first conversed with some Europe- 
an merchants, who sought the favour of trading o/ 3 his 
coast, he inquired of them some of the common ap~ 
pearances of summer and winter in their country; and 
when they told him of water growing so hard in their 
rivers, that men and horses and laden carriages passed 
over it, and that rain sometimes fell down as white and 
as light as feathers, and sometimes almost as hard as 
stones, he would not believe a word they said ; for ice, 
snow, and hail, were names of things utterly unknown 
to him and to his subjects in that hot climate ; he re- 
nounced all traffic with such shameful liars, and would 
not suffer them to trade with his people. See here the 
natural effects of gross ignorance. 

Conversation with foreigners on various occasions has 
a happy influence to enlarge our minds, and to set them 
free from any errors and gross prejudices we are ready- 
to imbibe concerning them. Domiciilus has never tra- 
velled five miles from his mother's chimney, and he 
imagines all outlandish men are papists, and wor- 
ship nothing but a cross. Tytirus, the shepherd, was 
bred up all his life in the country, and never sawRome; 
he fancied it to be only a huge village, and was there- 
fore infinitely surprised to find such palaces, such 
streets, such glittering treasures and gay magnificence 
as his first journey to the city shewed him, and with 

Gr 



74 OF CONVERSATION AND 

wonder he confesses his folly and mistake. So Virgil 
introduces a poor shepherd : 

Urbem quant dicunt Romam, Melibcee, putdvi 
z Stuttus ego huic nostras similem, quo sccpe solemus 
Pastores ovium teneros defiellerejcetus, &c. 

THUS ENGLISHED : 

Fool that I was, I thought imperial Rome 

Like market towns, where once a week we come, 

And thither drive our tender lambs from home. 

Conversation would have given Tytirus a better no- 
tion i" Rome, though he had never happened to travel 
thither. 

V. In mixed company, among acquaintance and 
str-ngers, endeavour to learn something from all. Be 
swift to hear, but be cautious of your tongue, lest you 
betray your ignorance, and perhaps offend some of those 
who are present too. The scripture severely censuses 
those who speak evil of the things which they know 
not. Acquaint yourself therefore sometimes with per- 
sons and parties which are fa' distant from your com- 
mon life and customs ; this is a way whereby you may 
form a wiser opinion of men and things. Prove all 
things, and hold fast that which is good, is a divine 
rule, and it comes from the Father of light and truth. 
But young persons should practise it indeed with due 
limitation, and under the eye of their elders. 

VI. Be not frightened nor provoked at opinions dif- 
ferent from your own. Some persons are so confident 
they are in the right, that they will not come within 
the hearing of any notions but their own ; they canton 
out to themselves a little province in the intellectual 
world, where they fancv the light shines, and all the 
rest is in darkness. They never venture into the ocean 
of knowledge, nor survey the riches of other minds, 
which are as solid, and as useful, and perhaps are finer 
gold than what they ever possessed. Let not men im- 
agine there is no certain truth but in the sciences which 
they study, and amongst that party in which they were 
born and educated. 

VII. Believe that it is possible to learn something 
from persons much below yourself. We are all short 
sighted creatures ; our views are also narrow and lim- 
ited 1 ; we often see but one side of a matter, and do not 
extend our sight far and wide enough to reach every 



OF PROFITING BY ITV 75 

thing that has a connexion with the thing we talk of; 
we see but in part, and know but in part ; therefore it 
is no wonder we form not right conclusions, because we 
do not survey the whole of any subject or argument. 
Even the proudest admirer of his own parts might find 
it useful to consult with others, though ~ef inferior ca- 
pacity and penetration. We have a different prospect 
of the same thing, if I may so speak according to the 
different position of our understandings towards it - y a 
weaker man may sometimes !jght on notions which 
have escaped a wiser, and which the wiser man might 
make a happy use of, if he would condescend to take 
notice of thi m. 

VIII. It is of considerable advantage, when we are 
pursuing any difficult point of knowledge, to have a so- 
ciety of ingenious correspondents at hand, to whom we 
may propose it ; for every man has something of a dif- 
ferent genius and a various turn of mind, whe:ebv the 
subject proposed will be shown in all its lights, it will 
be represented in all its forms, and even side of it be 
turned to view, that a jtsster judgment may be framed. 

IX. To make conversation more valuable, and use- 
ful, whether it be in a designed or accidental visit, 
among persons of the same or of different sexes, after 
the necessary salutations are finished, and the sUe m, 
of common talk begins to hesitwe, or runs flat ano 5 low, 
let some one person take a book which my be agree- 
able to the whole company, and by common consent let 
him read in it ten lines, or a paragraph or two, < r a few 
pages, till some word or sentence gives an occasion for 
any of the company to offer a thought or two relating 
to that subject. Interruption of tPe reader should be 
no blame, for conversation is the business; whether it 
be to confirm what the author says, or to improve it, 
to enlarge upon or to correct it, to object against it, or 
to ask any question that is akin to it, and let' every one 
that pleases add his opinion, and promote the conver- 
sation. When the discourse sinks again or diverts to 
trifles, let him that reads pursue the page, and read on 
further, paragraphs or pages, till some occasion be given 
by a word or sentence for a new discourse to be start- 
ed, and that with the utmost ease and freedom. Such 
a method as this would prevent the hours of a visit 
from running all to waste ; and by this means, even a- 
mcng scholars, they would seldom find occasion for that 



76 OF CONVERSATION AND 

too just and bitter reflection, ' I have lest my time in 
the company of the learned.' 

By such a practice as this, young ladies may very 
honourably and agreeably improve their hours ; while 
one applies herself to reading, the others employ their 
attention even among the various artifices of the needle; 
but let all of them make their occasional remarks or 
inquiries. This will guard a great deal of that precious 
time from modish trifling, impertinence, or scandal, 
which might otherwise afford matter for painful re- 
pentance. 

Observe this rule in genera!,— -whensoever it lies in 
your power to lead the conversation, let it be directed 
to some profitable point of knowledge or practice, so 
far as may be done with decency ; and let not the 
discourse and the hours be suffered to run loose with- 
out aim or design ; and when a subject is started, pass 
not hasti'y to another, before you have brought the 
present theme of discourse to some tolerable issue, 
or a joint consent to drop it. 

X. Attend with sincere diligence, ^while any one of 
the company is declaring his sense of the question pro- 
posed ; hear the argument with patience, though it 
differ ever so much from your sentiments, for you your- 
self are verv dei-irous to be heard with paiieuct by 
others who differ from you. Let not your thoughts be 
active and busy !J U the while to find out something to 
contradict, and by what means to oppose the spe; ker, 
especially in matters that are not brought to an issue. 
Tr is is a frequent and unhappy temper and practice. 
You should rather be intent and solicitous to take up 
the mind and meat ing of the speaker, 2"ulous to seize 
and approve all thai, is true in his discourse ; nor yet 
should vou want courage ±a oppose where it is necessa- 
ry ; hut let your modesty and patience, and a friendly 
temper, be as conspicuous as your zeal. 

XI. When a man speaks -with much freedom and 
ease, and gives his opinion in the plainest language of 
common sense, do not presently imagine you shall gain 
nothing by his company. Sometimes you will find a 
person, who. in his conversation or his writings, deliv- 
ers his thoughts in so plain, so easy, so familiar and per- 
spicuous a manner, that you both understand and assent 
to every thing he says, as fast us vou read or hear it; 
hereupon some hearers have been ready to conclude 



OF PROFITING BY IT. 77 

in haste, ' Surely this man saith none but common things; 
I knew as much before, or* I could have said all this 
myself.' This is a frequent mistake. Pellucido was a 
verv great genius ; when he spoke in the senate, he was 
wont to convey his ideas in so simple and happy a man- 
ner, as to instruct and convince every hearer, and to 
enforce the conviction through the whole illustrious as- 
sembly; and that with so much evidence, that you 
would have been ready to wonder, that every one who 
spoke had not said the same things ; but Peilucido was 
the only man that could doit; the only speaker who 
had attained this art and honour. Such is the writer 
of whom Horac^ would say, 



•Ut sibi qutvis; 



Speret idem ; sudet multum,frustraque laboret 

Ausus idem. \ De Ait. 9oet. 

Smooth be your style, and plain and natural, 

To strike the sons of Wapping or Whitehall. 

While others think this easy to attain, 

Let them but try, and with their utmost pain, 

They'll sweat and strive to imitate in vain. 

XII. If any thing seem dark in the discourse of your 
companion, so that you have not a cleat idea of what is 
spoken, endeavour to obtain a clearer conception of it 
by a decent manner of inquiry. Do not charge the 
speaker with obscurity, either in his sense or his words; 
but entreat his favour to relieve your own want of pen- 
etration, or to add an enlightening word or two, that 
you may take up his whole meaning. 

If difficulties arise in your, mind, and constrain your 
dissent to the things spoken, represent what objections 
some persons would be ready to make against the sen- 
timents of the speaker, without telling him you oppose. 
This manner of address carries something more modest 
and obliging in it, than to appear to raise objections of 
your own by way of contradiction to him that spoke. 

XIII. When you are forced to differ from* him who 
delivers his sense on any point, yet agree as far as you 
can, and represent how far you agree ; and if there be 
any room for it, explain the words of the speaker in 
such a sense, to which you can in general assent.and so 
agree with him ; or at least by a small addition or al- 
teration of his sentiments shew your own sense of things. 

-It is the practice and delight of a candid hearer* to 
make it appear how unwilling he is to differ from him 
that speaks, Let the speakej* know that it i& nothing 
G 2 



76 OF CONVERSATION AND 

| 

but truth constrains you to oppose him, and let that 
difference be always expressed in few, and civil # and 
chosen words, such as may give the least offence. 

And be careful always to take Solomon's rule with 
you, and let your correspondent fairly finish his speech 
before you reply ; *' for he that answereth a matter be- 
fore he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him**' 
Prov. xviii. 13. 

A little watchfulness, care, and pracrice in younger 
life, will render all these things more easy, iamiiiar, 
and natural to you, and will grow into habit. 

XIV. As you should cany about with you a con- 
stant and sincere sense of your own ignorance, so you 
should not be afraid nor ashamed to confess this igno- 
rance, by taking all proper opportunities to ask and 
inquire for further information ; whether it be the 
meaning of a word, the nature of a thing, the reason 
of a proposition, the custom of a nation, &c. never re- 
main in ignorance for want of asking. 

Many a person had arrived at some considerable de- 
gree of knowledge, if he had not been full of self con- 
ceit, and imagined that he had known enough already, 
or else was ashamed to let others know that he was un- 
acquainted with it. God and man are ready to teach 
the meek, the humble, and the ignorant ; hut he that 
fancies himself to know any particular subject well, 
or that will not venture to ask a question about it, such 
an one will not put himself into the way of improve- 
ment by inquiry and diligence. A fool may be " wiser 
in his own conceit than ten men who can render a rea- 
son," afld such an one is very likdy to be an everlast- 
ing fool ; and perhaps also it is a silly shame which 
renders his folly incurable. 

Stultorum incurata pudor mains ulcera celat. 

' Hor. Epist. 16. Lib. 1. 

IN ENGLISH THU^I 

If fools have ulcers, and their pride conceal 'em, 
They must have ulcers still, for none can heal 'em. 

XV. Be not tc.o forward, especially in the younger 
part of life, to determine any question in company by 
an infallible and pe.'emptory sentence, nor speak with 
assuming airs and with a decisive tone of voice. A 
young man in the presence of his elders should rather 
hear and attend, and weigh the arguments which are 



OF PROFITING BY IT. 7$ 

brought for the proof or refutation of anv doubtfu* 
proposition ; and when it is your turn to speak, propose 
your thoughts rather in the way of inquiry. By this 
means your mind will be kept in a fitter temper to re- 
ceive truth, and you will be more ready to correct and 
improve your own sentiments, where you have not betn 
too positive in ffirming them. But if you have magis- 
terially decided the point, you will find a secret unwil- 
lingness to retract, though you should feel an inward 
conviction that you were in the wrong. 

XVI. It is granted, indeed, that a season may hap- 
pen, when some b >ld pretender to science may assume 
naughty and positive airs, to assort and vindicate a g ss 
and dang.-rous error, or to renounce and vilify some 
very important truth ; and if he has a popular talent 
of talking, and there be no remonstrance made against 
him, the company may be tempted too easily to give 
their assent to the impude ce and infallibility of the 
presumer. They may imagine a proposition so much 
vilified can never be true, and that a doctrine which is 
so'boldly censured and renounced can never be defend- 
ed. Weak minds are too ready to persuade themselves, 
that a man would never talk with so much assurance, 
unless he were certainly in the right, an:! could well 
maintain and prove what he said. By this means, truth 
itself is in danger of being betrayed or lost, if there be 
no opposition made to such a pretending talker 

Now, in such a case, even a wise and a modest man 
m?iy assume airs too, and repel insolence with its own 
weapons. There is a time, as Solomon the wisest of 
men teaches us, when a fool should be answered ac- 
cording to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit, 
and lest others too easily yield up their faith and reason 
to his imperious dictates. Courage and positiveness are 
never more necessary than on such an occasion. But 
it is good to join some argument with them of rea! tuid 
convincing force, and let it be strongly pronounced too. 

When such a resistance is made, you shall find some 
of these bold talkers will draw in their horns, when 
their fierce and feeble pushes against truth and reason 
are repelled with "pushing and confidence- It*is*pity 
indeed that truth should ever need such sort of defen- 
ces; but we know that a triumphant assurance hath 
someti • es supported gross falsehoods, and a whole 
company have been captivated to error, by this means, 



80 OF CONVERSATION AND 

till some man with equal assur r.ce has rescued them. 
It is a pity that any momentous point of doctrine 
should happen to fall under such reproaches, and re- 
quire such a mode of vindication ; though if I happen 
to hear it, I ought not to turn my back, *nd to sneak off 
in silepce, and leave the truth to lie baffled, bleeding, 
and slain. Yet I must confess, I should be glad to have 
no occasion ever given me to fight with any man at 
this sort of weapons, even though I should be so hap- 
py as to silence his insolence, and to obtain an evident 
victory. 

XVII. Be not fond of disputing every thing firo and 
con, nor indulge yourself to show your talent of attack- 
ing and defending. A logic which teaches nothing else 
is little worth. This temper and practice w ill lead you 
just so far out of the way of knowledge, and divert 
your honest inquiry after the truth which is debated or 
sought. In set disputes, every little straw is often laid 
hold on to support our own cause ; every thing that can 
be done in any way to give coiour to our argument is 
advanced, and that perhaps with vanity and ostenta- 
tion. This puts the mind out of a proper posture to 
seek and receive the truth, 

XVIII. Do not bring a warm party spirit into a free 
conversation, which is designed for mutual improve- 
ment in the search of truth. Take heed of allowing 
yourself in those self-satisfied assurances which keep 
the doors of the understanding barred fast against the 
admission of any new sentiments. Let your soul be 
ever ready to hearken to further discoveries, from a 
constant and ruling consciousness of our present fallible 
and imperfect state; and make it appear to your 
friends, that it is no hard task for you to learn and pro- 
nounce those little words, I nvas mistaken, how hard 
soever it be for the bulk of mankind to pronounce them. 

XIX. As you may sometimes raise inquiries for 
your own instruction and improvement, and draw out 
the learning, wisdom, and fine sentiments of your 
friends, who perhaps may be too reserved or modest; 
so at other times, if you perceive a person unskilful in 
the matter of debate, you may, by questions aptly pro- 
posed in the Socratic method, lead him into a clearer 
knowledge of the subject; then you become his in- 
structor in such a manner as may not appear to make 
yourself his superior. 



OF PROFITING BY IT. 81 

XX. T r ike heed of affecting always to shine in com- 
pany above the rest, and to display the riches of your 
own understanding or your oratory, as though you 
would render yourself admirable to all that are pre- 
sent. This is seldom well taken in polite company; 
much less should vou use such forms of speech as 
might insinuate the ignorance or dulness of those with 
whom you converse. 

XX. Though ycu should not affect to flourish in a 
copious harangue and a diffusive style in company, yet 
neither* should you rudelv interrupt and reproach bim 
that happens to use it. But when he has done speak- 
ing, reduce h»s sentiments into a more contracted form ; 
not with a show of correcting, but as one. who is doubt- 
ful whether you hit upon his true sentiments or not. 
Thus matters may be brought more easily from a wild 
confusion into a single point, questions may be sooner 
determined, and difficulties more readily removed. 

XXII. Be not so ready to charge ignorance, preju- 
dice, and mistake upon others, as you are to suspect 
yourself of it ; and in order to shew how free you are 
from prejudices, learn to bear contradiction with pa- 
tience; let it be easy to you to hear your own opinion 
stroagH* opposed, especially in matters which are 
doubtful and disputable amongst men of sobriety and 
virtue. Give a patient hearing to arguments on all 
sides, otherwise you give the comp-my occasion to sus- 
pect that it is not the evidence of truth has led you into 
this opinion, but some lazy anticipation of judgment ; 
son*e beloved presumption, some long and rash posses- 
sion of a partv scheme, in which you desire to rest un- 
disturbed. If your assent has been established upon 
just and sufficient grounds, why should you be afraid to 
let the truth be put to the trial of argument? 

XXIII. Banish utterly out of all conversation, and 
especially out of oil learned and intellectual conference, 
every thing that tends to provoke passion, or raise a 
fire in the blood Let no sharp language, no noisy ex- 
clamation, no sarcasms or biting jests, be Heard among 
you; no perverse or invidious consequences be draucn 
from each other's opinions, ano* imputed to the person ; 
let there be no wilful perversion of .mother's meaning; 
no sudden seizure of a lapsed syllable to play upe< it, 
not any abused construction of an innoc-nt mistake; 
suffer not your tongue to insult a modest opponent that 



82 OF CONVERSATION AND 

begins to yield ; let there be no boasting or triumph, 
even where there is evident victory on your side. All 
these things tire enemies to friendship, and the ruin of 
free conversation. The impartial search of truth re- 
quires mII calmness and serenity, all temper and can- 
dor ; mutu 1 ins-ructions can never be attained in the 
midst of passion, pride, and clamor, unless we suppose, 
in the midst of such a scene, there is a loud and pene- 
trating lecture read by both sides on the folly and 
sh meful infirmities of human nature. 

XXIV. Whensoever therefore any unhappy word 
shali arise in company that might give you a reasona- 
ble disgust, quash the rising resentment, be it ever so 
just, and command your soul and your tongue into si- 
lence, lest you cancel the hopes of all improvement for 
that hour, and transform the learned conversation into 
the mean and vulgar form of reproaches and railing. 
The man who began to break the peace in such a so- 
ciety, will fall under the shame and conviction of such 
a silent reproof, if he has any thing ingenuous about 
him. If this shouid not be sufficient, let a grave ad- 
monition, or a soft and gentle turn of wit, with an air 
of pleasantry, give the warm disputer an occasion to 
stop the progress of his indecent fire, if not to retract 
the indecency, and qu°nch the flame. 

XXV. Inure yourself to a candid and obliging man- 
ner in all your conversation, and acquire the art of 
pleasing address, even when you teach as well as when 
you learn, and when you oppose as well as when you 
assert or prove. This degree of politeness is not to be 
attained without a diligent attention to such kind of di- 
rections as are here laid down, and a frequent exercise 
and practice of them. 

XXVI. If you would know what sort of companions 
you .-should select for the cultivation and advantage of 
the mind, the general rule is, Choos? such as by their 
brightness of parts, and their diligence in study, or by 
their superior advancement in learning, or peculiir 
excellency in any art, scence, or accomplishment, di- 
vine or human, may be capable of administering to your 
improvement; and be sure to maintain and keep some 
due regard to their moral character always, lest while 
you wander in qu-st of intellectual gam, vou fall into 
the contagion .of irreligioi) and vice. No wise man 
would venture into a house infected with the plague 



OF PROFITING BY IT. , 83 

in order to see the finest collections of any virtuoso in 
Europe . 

XXVII. Nor is it every sober person of your ac- 
quaintance, no, nor every man of. bright parts, or rich 
in learning, that is fie to engage in free conversation for 
tht enquiry after truth. Let a person have ever so il- 
lustrious talents, yet he-is not a proper associate for 
such a purpose, if he he under any of the following in- 
firmities : 

(1.) If he be exceedingly reserved, and hath either 
no inclination to discourse, or no tolerable capacity of 
speech and language for the communication of his 
sentiments. 

(2 ) If he be haughty and proud of his knowledge, 
imperious in his airs, and is always fond of imposing 
his sentiments on all the company. 

(3.) If he be positive and dogmatical in his own opin- 
ions, and will dispute to the end ; if he will resist the 
brightest evidence of truth rather'than suffer himself 
to be overcome, or yield to the plainest and strongest 
reasonings. 

(4.) If he be one who always r- .fleets to outshine all 
the company, and delights to hear himself tnl'k and 
flourish upon a subject, and make long harangues, 
while the rest must be all silent and attentive. 

(5.) If he be a person of a whiffling and unsteady 
turn of mind, who cannot keep ciose to a point of con- 
troversy, but wanders from it perpetually, and is al- 
ways solicitous to say something, whether it be perti- 
nent to the question or not, 

(6.) If he be fretful and peevish, and given to resent- 
ment upon all occasions ; if he knows not how to bear 
contradiction, or is ready to take things in a wrong 
sense ; if he be swift to feel a supposed offence, or to 
imagine himself affronted, and then break out into a 
sudden passion, or retain silent and sullen wrath. 

(7.) If he affects wit. on all occasions, and is full of 
his conceits and puns, quirks or quibbles, jests and re- 
partees ; these may agreeably entertain and animate 
an hour of mirth, but they have no place in the search 
after truth. 

(8.) If he carry always about him a sort of craft, and 
cunning, and disguise, and act rather like a spy than 
a friend. H tve a care of such a one as will make an ill 
use of freedom in conversation, and immediately charge 



84 OF CONVERSATION AND 

heresy upon you, when you happen to differ from those 
sentiments which authority or custom has established 

In short, you shoull avoid the man in such select 
conversation, who practises any thing that is unbecom- 
ing the character t>f a sincere, free, and open searcher 
after truth. 

Now, though you may pay all the relative duties of 
life to persons of these unhappy qualifications, and 
treat th m with decency and love, so far as religion and 
humanity oblige you, yet take care of entering into a 
free debate on matters of truth or falsehood in their 
company, and especially about the principles of reli- 
gion. I confess, if a person of such a temper happens 
to judge and talk well on such a subject, you may hear 
him with attention, and derive what profit you can 
from his discnurse ; but he is by no means to be chosen 
for a free conference in matters of learning and knowl- 
edge. 

XXVIII. While I would persuade you to beware 
of such persons, and abstain from too much freedom of 
discourse amongst ihem, it is very natural to infer that 
you should watch against the working of these evil 
qualities in your own breast, if you happen to be tainted 
with any of them yourself. Men of learning and inge- 
nuity will justly avoid your acquaintance, when they 
find such an unhappy and unsocial temper prevailing 
in you. 

XXIX To conclude : When you retire from com- 
pany, then converse with yourself in solitude, and in- 
quire what you have learned for the improvement of 
your understanding, or for rectifying your inclina- 
tions, for the increase of your virtues, or the meliora- 
ting your conduct and behaviour in any future parts of 
life. If you have seen some of your company candid, 
modest and humble in their manner, wise and sagacious, 
just and pious in their sentiments, polite and graceful, 
as well as clear and strong in their expression, and 
universally acceptable and lovely in their behaviour, 
endeavour to impress the idea of all these upon your 
memory, and treasure them up for your imitation. 

XXX. If the laws of reason, decency, and civility, 
have not been well observed amongst your associates, 
take notice of those defects for your own improvement ; 
and from every occurrence of this kind, remark some- 
thing to imitate or to avoid, in elegant, polite and use- 



OP PROFITING BV IT. 0» 

ftil conversation . Perhaps you will find that some per- 
sons present have really displeased the company, by 
an excessive and too visible a desire to please ; i^e. by 
giving loose to servile flattery, or promise, ous praise; 
while others were as ready to oppose and contradict 
every thing that was said. Some have deserved just 
censure for a morose and affected taciturnity, and 
others have been anxious and careful lest their silence 
should be interpreted to be a want of sense,and therefore 
they have ventured to make speeches, though they had 
nothing to say which was worth hearing. Perhaps you 
will observe, that one was ingenious in his thoughts, 
and bright in his language, but he was so conceited 
himself, that he disgusted all the company ; ( that he 
spoke well indeed, but that he spoke too long, and did 
not allow equal time or liberty to his associates. You 
wdl remark, that another was full charged to let out 
his words before his friend had dme speaking, or im- 
patient of the least opposition to any thing he said. You 
will remember that some persons have talked at large, 
and with great confidence, of things which they un- 
derstood not ; and others counted every thing tedious 
and intolerable that was spoken upon subjects out of 
their sphere, and they would fain confine the confer- 
ence entirely within the limits of their own narrow 
knowledge and study. The errors of conversation are 
almost infinite. 

XXXI, By a review of such irregularities as these, 
you may learn to avoid those follies and pieces of ill 
conduct which spoil good conversation, or make it 
less agreeable and less useful ; and by degrees you will 
acquire that delightful and easy manner of address 
and behaviour in all useful correspondencies, which 
may render your company every where desired and 
beloved ; and at the same time, amongst the best of 
your companions, you may make the highest improve- 
ment in your own intellectual acquisitions, that the 
discourse of mortal creatures will allow, under all our 
disadvantages in this sorry state of mortality. But there 
is a day coming, when we, shall be seized away from 
this lower class in the school of knowledge, where we 
labour under the many dangers and darknesses, the 
errors and incumbrances of flesh and blood ; and our 
conversation shall be with angels and more illuminated 
spirits, in the upper, regions of the universe. 



86 OF DISPUTES IN GENERAL. 

i 

CHAPTER X. 

Of Disfiutes. 

I. Under the general head of conversation for the 
improvement of the mind, we may rank the practice 
of disputing ; that is, when two or more persons ap- 
pear to maintain different sentiments, and defend their 
own or oppose the other's opinion, in alternate dis- 
course, by some methods of argument. 
".;. II. As these disputes often arise in good earnest, 
where the two contenders do really believe the differ- 
ent propositions which they support ; so sometimes they 
are appointed as mere trials of skill in academies or 
schools, by the students ; sometimes they are practised, 
and that with apparent fervour, in courts of judicature 
by lawyers, in order to gain the fees of their different 
clients, while both sides perhaps are really of the 
same sentiment with regard to the cause which is tried. 

III. In common conversation, disputes are often 
managed without any forms of regularity or order, and 
they turn to good or evil purposes, chiefly according to 
the temper of the disputants. They may sometimes 
be successful to search out truth, sometimes effectual 
to maintain truth, and convis ce the mistaken, but at 
other times a dispute is a mere scene of battle in. order 
to victory and vain triumph. 

IV. There are some few general rules which should 
be observed in all debates whatsoever, if we Would find 
out truth by them, or convince a friend of his errour, 
even though they b-- not managed according to any set- 
tled forms of disputation. And as there are almost as 
many opinions and judgments of things as there are 
persons, so when several persons happen to meet and 
confer together upon any subject, they are ready to 
declare their different sentiments, and support them 
by such reasonings as they are capable of. This is 
called debating, or disputing, as is above described. 

V. When persons begin a debate, they should always 
take care that they are agreed in some general princi- 
ples or propositions, which either more nearly or re- 
motely affect the question in hand; for otherwise they 
have no foundation or hope of convincing each other ; 



OF DISPUTES IN GENERAL. 87 

they must have some common ground to stand upon, 
while they maintain the contest. 

When they find they agree in some remote proposi- 
tions, then let them search farther, and inquire how- 
near they approach to each other's sentiments ; and 
whatsoever propositions they agree in, let these lay a 
foundation for the mutual hope of conviction. Hereby 
you will be prevented from running at every turn to 
some original and remote propositions, and axioms, 
which practice b^th entangles and prolongs <t dispute. 
As for instance, if there was a deoate proposed be- 
tween a Protestant and a Papist, whether there be such 
a place as purgatory; let them remember that they 
both agree in this point, that Christ has made satisfac- 
tion or atonement lor sin, and upon this ground let them 
both stand, while they search out the controverted doc- 
trine ot purgatory, by way of conference or debate. 

VI. The question should be cleared from all doubt- 
ful terms and needless additions ; and nil things that 
belong to the question, should be express 'din pl.tin and 
intelligible language. This is so necessary a thing, 
that without it, men will be exposed to such sorts of 
ridiculous contests as was found one day between the 
two unlearned combatants, Sartor and Sutor, who as- 
saulted and defended the doctrine of tranSubstantia- 
tion with much zeal and violence; but Latino happen- 
ing to come into their company, and inquiring the sub- 
ject of their dispute, asked each of them "what he 
meant by that long word transubstantiation. Sutor 
readily informed him, that he understood bowing at 
the name of Jesus: but Sartor assured him that he 
meant nothing but bowing at the high altar : * l No 
wonder, then/' said Latino, " that you cannot agree, 
when you neither understand one another, nor the word 
about which you contend," I think the whole family 
of the Sartors and Sutors would be wiser if they avoid- 
ed such kind of debates till they understood the terms 
better. But alas! even their wives carry on such con- 
ferences : the other day one was heard in the street, 
explaining to her less learned neighbour, the meaning 
ot metaphysical science ; and she assured her, that as 
physics were medicines for the body, so metaphysics was 
physics for the soul; upon this they went on to dis- 
pute the point, how far the divine excelled the doctor* 



€8 OF DISPUTES IN GENERIC 

Auditvm adminsi risvm teneatis amid? 
Sidentem dicere verum quid vetat ? Hor. 

Can it bt- faulty to repeat 

A dialogue that walk'd the street ? 

Or uan my gravest friends forbear 

A laugh, when such disputes they hear ? 

VII And not only the sense and meaning of the 
words used in the question should be settled and adjust- 
ed between the disputants, but the precise point of in- 
quiry should be distinctly fixed ; the question in debate 
should be limited precisely to its special extent, or de- 
clared to be taken in its more general s^nse. As for 
instance, if two men are contending whether civil gov- 
ernment be of divine right or not ; here it must be ob- 
served, the question is not, whether monarchy in one 
m <n, or a republic in multitudes of the people, or an 
aristocracy in a few of the chiefs, is appointed of God 
as necessary; but whether civil government in its most 
general sense, or in sny form whatsoever, is derived 
from the will and appointment of God? Again, the 
point of enquiry should be limited further. Thus, the 
qru stion is, rot whether government comes from the 
will of God bv the light of divine revelation, for that 
is gran- ec; but whether it be derived from the will of 
God by the light of reason too. This sort of specifica- 
tion or limitation of the question, hinders and prevents 
the disputants from wandering away from the precise 
P' it ©f inqulryi 

It is this trifling humour or dishonest artifice of 
ch nging the question and wandering away from the 
first point of debate, which gives endless length to dis- 
putes, and causes both the disputants to part without 
any satisfaction. And one chi f occasion of it is this; 
when one of the combatants feels his c^use run low 
and fail, and is just re^dy to be confuted and demolish- 
ed, he is tempted to step aside to avoid the blow, and 
betakes him to a different question ; thus, if his adver- 
sary be not well *ware of him, he begins to entrench 
himself in a new fastness, and holds out. the siege with 
a new artillery of thoughts and words. It is the pride 
of man which is the spring of this evil, and an unwil- 
lingness t" vieid up their own opinions even to be over- 
come by truth itself. 

VIII. K.tp this always therefore upon your mind, 
as an everlasting rule of conduct in your debates, to find 



OF DISPUTES IN GENERAL. 69* 

out truth, that a resolute design, or even a warm af- 
fectation of victory, is the bane of all real improvement, 
and an effectual bar against the admission of the truth 
which you profess to seek. This works with a secret, 
but a powerful and mischievous influence in every dis- 
pute, unless we are much upon our guard. It appears 
in frequent conversation ; every age, every sex, and 
each party of mankind, are so tond of being in the 
right, that they know not how to renounce this unhap- 
py prejudice, this vain love of victory. 

When truth with bright evidence is ready to break 
in upon a disputant, and to overcome his objections and 
mistakes, how swift and ready is the mind to engage 
wit and fancy, craft and subtilty, to cloud and perplex 
and puzzle the truth, if possible ! How eager is he to 
throw in some impertinent questions to divert from the 
main subject ! How swift to take hold of some occa- 
sional word, thereby to lead the discourse off from the 
point in hand! So much afraid is human nature of 
parting with its errors, and being overcome by truth. 
Just thus a hunted hare calls up all the shifts that na- 
ture hath taught her, she treads back her mazes,cross- 
es and confounds her former track, and uses all pos- 
sible methods to divert the scent, when she is in dan- 
ger of being seized and taken. Let puss practise what 
nature teaches : but would one imagine, that any ra- 
tional being should take such pains to avoid truth, and 
to escape the improvement of its understanding ? 

IX. When you come to a dispute in order to find 
out truth, do not presume that you are certainly pos- 
sessed of it beforehand. Enter the debate with a sin- 
cere design of yielding to reason, on which side soever 
it appears. Use no subtle arts to cloud and entangle 
the question ; hide not yourself in doubtful words and 
phrases; do not affect little shifts and subterfuges to 
avoid the force of an argument ; take a generous pleas- 
ure to espy the first rising beams of truth, though it 
be on the side of your opponent ; endeavour to remove 
the little obscurities that hang about it, and suffer and 
encourage it to break out into open and convincing 
light ; that while your opponent perhaps may gain the 
better of your reasonings, yet you yourself may tri- 
umph over error, and I am sure that is a much more 
valuable acquisition and victory. 

X. Watch narrowly in every dispute, that your op- 

H 2 



30 OF DISPCTO IS GEJOMUL. 

ponent does not lead you unwarily to grant some prin- 
ciple of the proposition, which will biing with it f.tal 
consequence, ami lead you insensibly into his sentiment, 
though it be far astray from the truth ; and by this 
wrong step you will be. as it were, plunged into dan- 
gerous errors before you are aware. Polonides in free 
conversation, led Incauto to agree with him in this 
plain proposition, that the blessed God has too much 
justice in any case to punish* any being who is in itself 
innocent ; till he not only allowed it with an unthinking 
alacrity, but asserted it in most universal and unguard- 
ed terms. A little after, Polonides came in discourse 
to commend the virtues, the innocence, and the piety of 
cur blessed S iviour ; and thence inferred, it was im- 
possible that God should ever punish so holy a person* 
who was never guilty of any crime ; ihen Incauto es- 
pied the s?sare, and found himself robbed and defraud- 
ed of the great doctrine of the atonement by the death 
of Christ, upon which he had placed his immortal 
hopes, according to the gospel. 

Ths taught him to reflect with himself what a danger- 
ous concession he had made in so universal a manner, 
that God would never punish any being who was ii no- 
cent, and he saw it needful to recai his words, or to ex- 
plain them better, by adding this restriction or limita- 
tion, viz. Unless this innocent being were some way in- 
volved in another's sin, or stood as a voluntary surety 
for the guilty ; by this limitation, he secured the great 
and blessed doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ for the 
sins of men, and learnt to be more cautious in his con- 
cessions for the time to come. 

Two months ago, Fata Ho had almost tempted his 
friend Fidens to leave iff prayer, and to abandon his 
dependence on the providence of God in the common 
affairs of life, by obtaining of hjm a concession of the 
like kind. Is it not evident to reason, says Fatalio, that 
God's immense scheme of transactions in the universe, 
was contrived and determined long before you and I 
were born ? Can you imagine, my dear Fidens, that 
the blessed God changes his original contrivances, and 
mikes new interruptions in the course of them, so often 
as you and I want his aid, to prevent the little accidents 
of life, or to guard us from them ? Can you suffer your* 

* The word punish here signifies, to bring tome natural evil upon 
a penon en account of moral evil done. 



: 



OF DISPUTES IN GENERAL. 91 

self to be persuaded, that the great Creator of this 
world takes care to support a bridge which was quite 
rotten,and to make it stand firm a few minutes longer, 
till you had rode over it ? Or, will he uphold a fal.ing 
tower, while we two were passing by it, that such 
worms as you ^nd I are, might escape the ruin ? 

But you say, you prayed tor his protection in the 
morning, and he certainly hears prayer# I grant he 
knows it ; but axe ynu so fond ami weak, said fee, as to 
suppose that the unives sa» Lord of ail, had such a re- 
gard to a word or two of your breath, as to make liter- 
ati ns in his own eternal scheme, upon that account ? 
Nor is there any other way whereby his provide* ce 
can v reserve you in answer to pr yer, but by creaiii.g 
such perjetual interruptions and changes in his own 
conduct recording to yout daily behaviour-? 

I acknowledge, savs Fidens, there is no other way 
to securt the doctrine of divine pi ovi ence, in ail these 
comm.n affairs, and therefore I begin to doubt wheth- 
er Gnd does or ever will exert hin self so particularly 
in our little concer: s. 

H ave a care, good Fidens, thst you yield not too far; 
tftke heed lest yoo have granted too much to Fatalso. 
Pray let me ask of you, coud not the great God, who 
grasps and surveys ail future and distant things in one 
Single view, could not he from the beginning, foresee 
your morning prayer for his protection; and appoint 
all second causes t« coucur for the support- of that cra- 
zy bridge; or to make that old tower stand firm till 
you had escaped the danger? Or could not he cause 
all the mediums to work, to as to make it fall before 
you came near it ? Can he not appoint aU his own 
transactions in the universe, and every event in the nat- 
ural world, in a way of perfect correspondence with 
his own foreknowledge of all events, actions, and ap- 
pearances of the moral world in every part of it? Can 
he not direct every thing in nature, which is but his 
servant, to act in perfect agreement with his eternal 
prestience of our sins, or of our piety > And hereby all 
the glory of Providence, and our necessary depend- 
ence upon it by faith and prayer, are as well secured, as 
if he interposed to alter his own scheme every moment. 

Let me ask again, did not he in his own counsels, or 
decrees, appoint thunders, and lightnings, and earth- 
quakes, to burn up and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, 



9£ tt DISPUTES IN GENERAL. ' 

and turn them into a dead sea, just at the time when 
the iniquities ol those cities were raised to their supreme 
height? Did he not ordain the fountains of the deep 
to be broken up, and overwhelming rains to fall 
from heaven, just when a guilty world deserved to be 
drowned ; while he took ca,re for the security of 
righteous Noah, by an ark which would float on that 
very deluge of waters ? Thus he can punish the crim- 
inal when he pleases, and reward the devout worship- 
per in the proper se ison, by his original and eternal 
schemes of appointment, as well as if he interposed 
every moment anew. Take he ed, Fidens, that you be 
not tempted away by such-sophisms of Fatalio, to with- 
hold prayer from God, and to renounce your faith in 
his providence. 

Remember this short and plain caution of the subtle 
errors of men : Let a snake but once thrust in his head 
at some small unguarded fold of your garment, and he 
will insensibly and unavoidably wind his whole body 
into your bosom, and give you a pernicious wound. 

XL On the other hand, when you have found your 
opponent make any such concession as may turn to 
your real advantage in maintaining the truth, be wise 
and watchful to observe it, and make a happy im- 
provement of it. Rhapsodus has taken a great deal of 
-pains to detract from the honour of Christianity, by 
sly insinuations, that the sacred writers are perpetual- 
ly promoting virtue and piety by promises and threat- 
enings ; whereas, neither the fear of fixture punishment, 
nor the hope of future reward, can possibly be called 
good affections, or such as are the acknowledged springs 
and sources of nil actions truly good. He adds further, 
that this fear, or this hope, cannot consist in reality 
with virtue or goodness, if it either stands as essential 
to any moral performance, or as a considerable motive 
to any good action ; and thus he would fain lead Christ- 
ians to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because of 
its future and eternal promises and threatenings,as being 
inconsistent with his notion of virtue ; for he supposes, 
that virtue should be so beloved and practised for the 
sake of its own beauty and loveliness, that all other 
motives arising from rewards or punishments, fear or 
hope, do really take away just so much from the very 
nature of virtue, as their influence reaches to ; and no 
part of those good practices are really valuable, but 



OF DISPUTES IN GENERAL. 03 

what arises from the mere love of virtue itself, without 
any regard to punishment or reward. 

Rut observe, in two pages afterwards, he grants, that 
this principle of fear of future punishment, and hope of 
future reward, how mercenary and servile soever it 
may be accounted, is yet in many circumstances a g' eat 
advantage, security, and support to \irtue ; especially 
where there is danger of the violence of rage or lust, 
or any counter-working passion to control and over- 
come the good affections of the mind. / 

Now, the rule and the practice of Christianity, or the 
gospel, as it is closely connected with future rewards 
and punishments, may be well supported by this con- 
cession. Pray, Rhapsodus, tell me, if every man in 
this present life, by the viole; ce of some counterwork- 
ing passion, may not have his good inflections to virtue 
controlled or overcome? May not, therefore, his eter- 
nal fears and hopes bf. a great advantage, security, and 
support to virtue in so dangerous a state and situation, 
as our journey through this would towards a better? 
And this is all that the defence of Christianity necessa- 
rily requires. 

And yet further, let me ask our rhapsodist, if you 
haven thing tse, sir, buv the be: uty, and excellency, 
an), loveliness of vinut, to preach and flourish up -n t 
before such sorry and degenerate creatures, as the bulk 
rf mankird are, and you h. ve no future rewards or 
punishnte-its, with which to address their hopes and 
fears, how many of these vicious wretches will you ever 
reclaim from a!l their varieties of pvofaneness, intem- 
perance, and madness? How many have you over ac- 
tually reclaimed by this smooth, soft method, and these 
fine words ? What has all that reasoning and rhetoric 
done, which have been displayed by your predecessors, 
the Heathen moralists, upon this excellency and beauty 
of virtue ? What has it been able to do towards the re- 
forming of a sinful world? Perhaps now* and then, a 
man of better natural rcould, has been a little refined, 
and perhaps also, there may have been here and there 
a man restrained or recovered from injustice and knav- 
ery, from drunkenness, and lewdness, and vile debauch- 
eries, by this fair reasoning and philosophy ; but have 
the passions of revenge and envy, of ambition and pride, 
and the inward secret vices of the mind been mortifi- 
ed merely by this philosophical language ? Have any 



94 OF DISPUTES IN CfENERAE. 

of these men been made new creatures, men of real 
piety and love to God ? 

Go dress up all the virtues of human nature, in all 
the beauties of your oratory , and declaim aloud on the 
praise of social virtue, and the amiable qualities of good- 
ness, till your heart or your lungs p.che, among the 
looser herds of mankind, and you will ever find, as 
your Heathen father? have done before, that the wild 
passions and appetites of men are too violent to be re- 
strained by such mild and silken language. You may 
as well build up a fence pf straw and feathers, to resist 
a cannon ball, or trv to quench a flaming grenado with 
a shell of fair water, as hope to succeed in these at- 
tempts. But an eternal heaven, and an eternal hell, 
carry divine force and power with them ; this doctrine 
from the mouth of Christian preachers, has begun the 
reformation of multitudes; this gospel has recovered 
thousands among the nations, from iniquity and death. 
Thev have been awakened by these awful scenes to 
begin religion, and afterw rds, their virtue has im- 
proved r self into superior and more refined principles 
and habits by divine grace, and risen to high and emi- 
nent degrees, though riot 'o a consummate state. The 
blessed God knows human nature much better than 
Rhapsodus dvth, and ias throughout his word appoint- 
ed a more pr. per and more effectual method of ad- 
dress to it, by the passion of hope and fear, by punish- 
ments nd rewards 

If you rear! on four pages further in these writings, 
you will find the author makes another concession. He 
allows that the master of a family, using proper re- 
waids and gentle punishments towards his children, 
teaches them goodness, ?,nd by this help instructs them 
in a virtue, which afterwards they practise upon other 
grounds, and without thinking of a penalty or a bribe; 
and this, ^ays he, is what we call a liberal education, 
and a liberal service. 

This new concession of that author may also be very 
happilv improved in favour of Christianity. What are 
the best of men in this life ? They are by no means 
perfect in virtue ; we are all but children here under 
the great Master of the family, and he is pleased, by 
hopes *nd fears, by mercies and corrections; to instruct 
us in virtue, and to conduct us onward towards the 
sublimer and more perfect practice of it in the future 



OF DISPUTES IN GENERAL. 95 

world, where it shall be performed, as in his own lan- 
guage, perhaps without thinking of penalties and bribes. 
And since he hath allowed that this conduct may be 
called a liberal education and a liberal service, let 
Christianity then be indulged the title of a liberal edu- 
cation also; and it is admirably fitted for such frail and 
sinful creatures, while they are training up towards 
the sublimer virtues of the heavenly state. 
* XII. When you are engaged in a dispute with a 
person of very different principles from yourself, and 
you cannot find any ready way to prevail with liim to 
embrace the truth by principles which you both freely 
acknowledge, you may fairly make use of his own prin- 
ciples to show him his mistake, and thus convince or 
silence him from his own concessions. 

If your opponent should be a Stoic philosopher, or a 
Jew, you may pursue your argument in defence of some 
Christian doctrine or duty against such a disputant, by 
axioms or laws borrowed either from Zeno or Moses. 
And though you do not enter into the inquiry how ma- 
ny of the laws of Moses are abrogated, or whether 
Zeno was right or wrong in his philosophy, yet if from 
the principles and concessions of your opponent, you can 
support your argument for the gospei of Christ, this 
has been always counted a fair treatment of an adver- 
sary, and it is called argumeiltum ad hominem, or ratio 
ex concessis. St. Paul sometimes makes use of this 
sort of disputation when he talks with Jews or Heathen 
philosophers ; and at least he silences if not convinces 
them, which is sometimes necessary to be done against 
an obstinate and clamorous adversary, that just honour 
might be paid to truths which he knew were divine, 
and that the only true doctrine of salvation might be 
confirmed and propagated among sinful and dying men. 

XIII. Yet great care must be taken lest your de- 
bates break in upon your passions, and awaken them 
to take part in the controversy. When the opponent 
pushes hard, and gives just and mortal wounds to our 
own opinions, our passions are very apt to feel the 
strokes, and to rise in resentment and defence. Self is 
so mingled with the sentiments which we have chosen, 
and has such a tender feeling of all the opposition which 
is made to them, that personal brawls are very ready to 
come in as seconds, to succeed and finish the dispute of 



96 ' OF DISPUTES IN GENEBAI,. 

opinions. Then noise and clamour and folly appear in 
all their shapes, and chase reason and truth out of 
sight. I 

How unhappy is the case of frail and wretched man- 
kind in this dark and dusky state of strong passion and 
glimmering reason I How ready are we, when our pas- 
sions are engaged in the dispute, to consider more what 
loads of nonsence and reproach we can lay upon our 
opponent, than what reason and truth require in the 
controversy itself. Dismal are the consequences man- 
kind are too often involved in by this evil principle ; it 
is this common and dangerous practice that carries the 
heart aside from all that is fair and honest in our search 
after truth, or the propagation of it in the world. One 
would wish from one's very soul, that none of the 
Christian fathers had been guilty of such follies as these. 

But St. Jerome fairlv confesses this evil principle, in 
his apology for himself to Pammachius, that he had 
not so much regarded what was exactly to be spoken 
in the controversy he had in hand, as what e was fit to 
lay a load on Jovinian. And, indeed, I fear this was the 
vile custom of many of the writers, even in the church 
affairs of those times. But it will be a double scandal 
upon us in our more enlightened age, if we will allow 
ourselves in a conduct so criminal and dishonest. Hap- 
py souls, who keep such a sacred dominion over their 
inferior and animal powers, and all the influences of 
pride and secular interest, that the sensitive tumults, 
or these vicious influences, never rise to disturb the 
superior and better operations of the reasoning mind ! 

XIV. These general directions are necessary, or at 
least useful, in all debates whatsoever, whether they 
arise in occasional conversation, or are appointed at 
any certain time or place ; whether they are managed 
with or without any formal rules to govern them. But 
there are three sorts of disputation, in which there are 
some forms and orders observed, and which are dis- 
tinguished by these three names, viz. Socratic, Foren- 
sic and Academic, i. e, the disputes of the schools. 

Concerning each of these, it may not be improper to 
discourse a little, and give a few particular direction's 
or remarks about them. 



SOCBATICAL DISPUTATION. 97 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Socraticdl Way of Disfiutation* 

I. THIS method of depute derives its name from 
Socrates, by whom it was practised, and by other phi- 
losophers in his age, long before Aristotle invented the 
particular forms of syllogism in mood and figure, which 
are now used in scholastic disputatidns. 

II. The Socratical way is managed by questions and 
answers in such a manner as this, viz. If I would lead 
a person into the belief of a heaven and a hell* or a fu- 
ture state of rewards and punishments, I might begin 
in some such manner of inquiry, and suppose the most 
obvious and easy answers. % 

Quest- Does not G f, d govern the world ? 

Ans. Surely he that made it governs it. 

Quest. Is not God both a good and a righteous gov- 
ernour ? 

Ans. Both these characters doubtless belong to him. 

Quest. What is the true notion of a good and right- 
eous governour ? 

Ans. That he punishes the wicked and rewards the 
good. 

Quest, Are the good always rewarded in this life ? 

Ans. No surely, for many virtuous men are misera- 
ble here, and greatly afflicted. 

Quest. Are the wicked always punished in this life ? 

Ans, No certainly, for many of them live without 
sorrow, and some of the vilest of men are often raised 
to great riches and honour. 

Quest. Wherein then doth God make it appear that 
he is good and righteous ? 

Ans. I own there is but little appearance of it on earth. 

Quest. Will there not be a time then when the tables 
shall b". turned, and the scene of things changed, sinc<c 
God governs mankind righteously ? 

Ans. Doubtless, there must be a proper time, where- 
in God will make that goodness and that righteousness 
to appear. 

Quest* If this be not before their death, how can it 
be done ? 

Ans. I can think of no other way but by supposing 
man to have some existence after this life, 
I 



^0 SOCRATICAL DISPUTATION. 

Quest. Are you not convinced then that there must 
be a state of reward and punishment after death ? 

Ans» Yes, surely, I now see plainly , that the good- 
ness and righteousness of God, as governor of the 
workl, necessarily require it. 

III. Now the advantages of this method are very 
considerable. 

(1.) It represents the form of a dialogue or common 
conversation, which is a much more easy, more pleas- 
ant, and a more sprightly way of instruction, and more 
fit to excite the attention and sharpen the penetration 
of the learner, than solitary reading, or silent attention 
to a iecture. Man being a social creature, delights 
more in conversation, and learns better this way, if it 
could always be wisely and happily practised. 

(2.) This method hath something very obliging in it, 
and carries a very humble and condescending air, when 
he that instructs seems to be the inquirer, and seeks 
information from him who learns. 

,(3.) It leads the learner into the knowledge of trffth 
as it were by his own invention, which is a very pleas- 
ing thing to human nature ; and by questions perti- 
nently and artificially proposed, it does as effectually 
draw him on to discover his own mistakes, which he is 
much more easily persuaded to relinquish when he 
sefems to have discovered them himself. 

(4.) It is managed in a great measure in the form of 
the most easy reasoning, always arising from something 
asserted or known in the foregoing answer, and so pro- 
ceeding to inquire something unknown in the following 
question, which again makes way for the next answer. 
Now such an exercise is very alluring and entertaining 
to the understanding, while its own reasoning powers 
are all along employed ; and that without labour or dif- 
ficulty, because the querist finds out and proposes all 
the intermediate ideas, or middle terms. 

IV. There is a method very nearly akin to this, 
which has much obtained of late, viz. writing contro- 
versies by questions only, or confirming or refuting any 
position, or persuading to or dehorting from any prac- 
tice, by the mere propcsal of queries. The answer to 
them is supposed to be so plain and so necessary, that 
they are not expressed, because the query itself car- 
ries a convincing argument in it, and seems to deter- 
mine what the answer must be. 



OF FORENSIC DISPUTES, 99 

V. If Christian catechisms could be framed in the 
manner of a Socratical dispute, by question and answer, 
it would wonderfully enlighten the minds of children, 
and it would improve their intellectual and reasoning 
powers, at the same time that it leads them into the 
knowledge of religion ; and it is upon one account well 
suited to the capacity of children ; tor the questions 
may be pretty numerous, and the querist must not pro- 
ceed too swiftly towards the determination of his point 
proposed, that he may with more ease, with brighter 
evidence, and with surer success, draw the learner on. 
to assent to those principles, step by step, from whence 
the final conclusion will naturally arise. The onlv in- 
convenience would be this, that if children were to rea- 
son out all their way, entirely into the knowledge of 
every part of their rehgion, it would draw common 
catechisms into too large a volume for their leisure, 
attention, or memory. 

Yet those who explain their catechisms to them may, 
by due application and forethought, instruct them in 
this manner. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Of Forensic Disputes. 

i . THE Forum was a public place in Rome where 
lawyers and orators made their speeches before the 
proper judge in matters of property, or in criminal ca- 
ses, to accuse or excuse, to complain or defend ; thence 
all sorts of disputations in public assemblies or courts of 
justice, where several persons make their distinct 
speeches for or against any person or thing whatsoever, 
but more especially in civil matters, may come under 
the name of Forensic Disputes. 

II. This is practised not cnly in the courts of judica- 
ture, where a single person sits to judge of the truth or 
goodness of any cause, and to determine : according to 
the weight of reasons on either side ; but it is used also 
in political senates or parliaments, ecclesiastical synods, 
and assemblies cf various kinds. 

In these assemblies, generally one person is chosen 
chairman or moderator, not to give a determination to 
the controversy, but chiefly to kVep the several speak- 
ers to the rules of order and decency in their conduct ; 



100 OF FORENSIC DISPUTES. 

but the final determination of the question arises from 
the majority of opinions or votes in the assembly, ac- 
cording as they are or ought to be swayed by the supe- 
rior weight of reason appearing in the several speech- 
es that are made. 

III. The method of proceeding is usually in s? me 
such form as this. The first person who speaks when 
the court is set, opens the case either more briefly or at 
large, and proposes the case to the judge, or the chair- 
man, or moderator of the assembly, and gives his own 
reasons for his opinion in the case proposed. 

IV. This person is succeeded by one, or perhaps two 
or several more, who paraphrase on the same subject, 
and argue on the same side of the question ; they con- 
firm what the first has spoken, and urge new /reasons 
to enforce the sime ; then those who are of a different 
opinion stand up and make their several speeches in a 
succession, opposing the cause which others have 
maintained, giving their reasons against it, a»d endeav- 
ouring to refute the arguments whereby the first 
speakers have supported it. 

V. After this, one and another rises up to make their 
replies, to vindicate or to condemn, to establish or to 
confute what has been offered before,on each side of the 
question ; till at last, according to the rules, orders, or 
Customs of the court or assembly, the controversy is de- 
cided, either by a single judge, or th- suffrage of the 
assembly. 

VI. Where the quest ion or matter in debate consists 
of several parts, after it is once opened by the first or 
second speaker, sometimes thrse who follow take each 
of them a particular part of the debate, according to 
their inclination or their prior .igreement, and apply 
themselves to argue up^n that single point only, that so 
the who!e complexion of the debate may not be thrown 
into confusion bv the varietv of subjects, if every speak- 
er should handle nil the subjects of debate. 

VII. Before the final sentence or determination is 
given, it is usu d to have the reasons and arguments 
which have been offered on both side c , summed up and 
represented in a more compendious manner, and this is 
done either by the appointed judge of ttye court, or the 
chairman, or some noted person in the assembly, t-'iat 
so judgment may proceed upon the fullest survey of the 



OF ACADEMIC DISPUTATION. 101 

whote subject, that, as far as poss.ble in human affairs, 
nothing may be done contrary to truth or justice. 

VIII. As this is a practice in which multitudes of 
gentlemen, besides those of the learned professions, 
may be engaged, at least in their matu f er years of life, 
so it would be a very proper and useful thing to intro- 
duce this custom into our academies, viz. to propose 
cases, and let the students debate them in a Forensic 
manner in the presence of their tutors. There was 
something of this kind practised by the Roman youth in 
their schools, in order to train them up for orators, both 
in the forum and in the senate. Perhaps Juvenal gives 
some hints of it when he says, 

etnos 

Consilium dedimus Syllas, privatus ut ultum 
Dormiret Sat. 1. 

Where with men-boys I strove to get renown, 
Advising Sylla to a private gown, 
That he might sleep the sounder. 

Sometimes these were assigned to the boys as single 
subjects of a theme or declamation ; so the same poet 
speaks sarcastically to Hannibal, 

/ demens, et seevas cvrre per Alpes- 

Ut pueris placeas et declamatio Jias. Sat. 10. 

Go climb the nigged Alps, ambitious fool, 
To please the boys, and be a theme at school. 

See more of this matter in Kennet's antiquities of 
Rome, in the second Essay on the Roman Education. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Of Academic or Scholastic Disfiutation. 

THE common methods in which disputes are man 
age;! in schools of learning are these, viz. 

I. The tutor appoints a question in some of the sci- 
ences, to be debated amongst his students ; one of them 
undertakes to affirm or deny the question, and to de- 
fend his assertion or negation, and to answer all objec- 
tions against it ; he is called the respondent ; and the 
rest of the students in the same class, or who pursue 
the same science, are the opponents, who are appoint- 
ed to dispute or raise objections against the proposition 
thus affirmed or denied. 
I 2 



102 OF ACADEMIC, OH 

II. Each of the students successively in their turn 
becomes the respondent or the defender of that p;< po- 
sition, while the rest oppose it also successively in their 
turns. 

III. It is the business of the respondent to write a 
thesis in Latin, or short discourse on the question pro- 
posed ; and he either affirms or denies the question ac- 
cording to the opinion of r he tutor, which is supposed 
to be the truth, and he reads it at the beginning of the 
dispute 

IV. In his discourse, (which is written with as great 
accuracy as the youth is capable of) he explains the 
terms of the question, frees rbem from all ambiguity, 
fixes their sense, declares the true intent and meaning 
of the question itself, separates it from other questions 
with which it may have been complicated, a ;d distin- 
guishes it from other questions which may happen tone 
akin to it, and then pronounces in the negative or af- 
firm ative concerning it. 

V. When this is done, theu in the second part of his 
discourse he gives his own strongest arguments to con- 
firm the proposition he has laid clown, i. e. to vindicate 
his own side of the question; but he does not usu -ily 
proceed to represent the objections against it, and to 
solve or answer tht-m ; for it is the business of the other 
students to raise objections in disputing. 

VI. Note. In some schools the respondent is admit- 
ted to talk largely upon the question, with m ny flour- 
ishes and illustrations, to introduce great authorities 
from ancient and modern writings fir the support or it, 
and to scatter Latin reproaches in abundance on all 
those who are of a different sentiment But this is not 
always permitted, nor should it indeed be ever^ndulg- 
ed, lest it teach youth to reproach, instead of reason- 
ing 

VII. When the respondent has read over his thesis 
in the school, the junior student makes an objection, 
and draws it up m the regular form of syllogism ; the 
respondent repeats the objection, ano 1 either deries the 
major or minor propositi' n directly, or he distinguishes 
upon some word or phrase in the major or minor, and 
shows in what sense the proposition may be true, but 
that sense does not affect the question ; and then de- 
clares that in the sense which affects the present ques* 
tion,/the proposition is not true, and consequently he de- 
nies it. ' 



SCHOLASTIC DISPUTATION. 103 

VIII. Then the opponent proceeds by another syllo- 
gism to vindicate the proposition that is denied ; ag ;iu 
the m pondent answers by denying or distinguishing. 

Thus the disputation g»ies on in a series or succession 
of syllogisms and answers, till the objector is siienced, 
and has no more to say. 

IX. When he can go no further, the nex« student be- 
gins to propose his objection, and then the third and 
the fourth, evet< to the senior, who is *_he last opponent. 

X. During this time, the tutor sits n the chair \s 
president or moderator, to see that the ruies of dispu- 
tation and decency be observed on both sides, and to 
admonish each disputant of any irregulaiity in their 
conduct. His work is als" to illustrate and txplain the 
answer or distinction of th respondeat where it is ob- 
scure, to strengthen it where it is we; k, nud to correct 
it where it is faise ; ai;d when the resp ndent is pinch- 
ed with a strong objection, and is at a loss for -at answer, 
the moderator assists him, and sugg st- some answer to 
the objection of the opponent, in defence f f the qutstion, 
according to his own opinion or sentiment* 

XI. In public disputes, where the op;*onents and re- 
spondents choose, their own side of "the question, the 
moderator's work is not to favour cither disputant; but 
he only sits as president, to see that the iaws of dispu- 
tation be observed, and a decorum maintained. 

XII. Now the laws of disputation relate either to the 
opponent, or to the respondent, or to both. 

The l-iws obliging the opponent are these : 

I. That he must directly contradict the proposition 
of the respondent, and not merely attack any of the ar- 
guments whereby the respondent has supported that 
proposition ; for it is one thing to confute a single argu- 
ment of the respondent, and another to confute the the- 
sis itself. 

2 (Which is akin to the former ) He must contra- 
dict or oppose the very sense and intention of the prop- 
osition as the respondent has stated it, and not merely 
oppose the words of the thesis in any other sense ; for 
this would be the way to plunge the dispute into ambi- 
guity and darkness, totaik beside the question, to wran- 
gle about words, and to attack a proposition different 
from what the respondent has espoused, which is called 
ignoratio elenchi 

3, He must propose his argumenta in a plain, short, 



104 OF ACADEMIC, OB 

and syllogistic form, according to the rules of logic, 
without flying to fallacies or sophisms ; and as far as 
may be, he should use categorical syllogisms. 

4. Though the respondent may be attacked either 
upon a point of his own concession, which is called ar- 
gumentum ex co7icessis, or by reducing him to an ab- 
surdity, which is called reduciio ad absurdum % yet it is 
the neatest, the most useful, and the best sort of dispu- 
tation, where the opponent draws his objections from 
the nature of the question itself. 

5. Where the respondent denies any proposition, the 
opponent, if he proceed, must directly vindicate and 
confirm that proposition, i, e. he must make that prop- 
osition the conclusion of his next syllogism. 

6. Where the respondent limits or distinguishes any 
proposition, the opponent must directly prove his own 
proposition in that sense, and according to that member 
of the distinction in which the respondent denied it. 

XIII. The laws that oblige the respondent are these: 

1. To repeat the argument of the opponent in the 
very same words in which it was proposed, before he 
attempts to answer it. 

2. If the syllogism be false in the logical form of it, 
he must discover the fault according to the rules of logic. 

3. If the argument does not directly and effectually 
oppose his thesis, he must show this mistake, and make 
it appear that his thesis is safe, even though the argu- 
ment of the opponent be admitted ; or at least, that the 
argument does only aim at it collaterally, or at a dis- 
tance, and not directly overthrow i^, or conclude against 
it. 

4. Where the matter of the opponent's objection is 
faulty in any part of it, the respondent must grant what 
is true in it, he must deny what is false, he must distin- 
guish or limit the proposition which is ambiguous or 
doubtful ; and then, granting the sense in which it is 
true, he must deny the sense in which it is false. 

5. If a hypothetic proposition be false, the respond- 
ent must deny the consequence ; if a disjunctive, he 
must deny the disjunction; if a categoric or relative, he 
must simply deny it. 

6 It is sometimes allowed for the respondent to use 
an indirect answer after he has answered directly; and 
he may also show how the opponent's argument may 
fee retorted against himself. 



SCHOLASTIC DISPUTATION. 105 

XIV. The laws that oblige both disputants are these. 

1. Sometimes it is necessary there should be a men- 
tion of" certain general principles, in which they both 
agree, relating to the question, that so they may not dis- 
pute on those things which either are or ought to have 
been first granted on both sides 

2. When the state of the controversy is well known, 
and plainly determined and agreed, it must not be al- 
tered by either disputant in the course of the disputa- 
tion ; and the respondent especially should keep a 
watchful eye on the opponent, in this patter. 

3. Let neither pai ty invade the province of the other; 
especially let the respondent take heed that he does 
not turn opponent, except in retorting the argument up- 
on his adversary after a direct response ; andeven this 
is allowed only as an illustration or confirmation of his 
own response. 

4. Let each wait with patience till the other has done 
spea king. It is a piece of rudeness to interrupt another 
in his speech. 

Yet though the disputants have not this libertv, the 
moderator may do it, when either of the disputants 
breaks the rules, and he may interpose so far as to keep 
them in order. 

VXV. It must be confessed, there are some advanta- 
ges to be attained bv academic -1 disputations. It gives 
vigour and briskness to the mnd thus exercised, and 
relieves the langour of private study and meditation .\ It 
sharpens the wit and all the inventive powers. It makes 
the thoughts active, and sends them on all sides to find 
arguments and answcshoth for opposition and defence. 
It gwes opportunity of viewing Ihe subject of disc urse 
on all sides, and of learning what inconveniences.chfncul- 
ties. and . bjection:-, attend particular opinions. It fur- 
nishes the soul with various occ.si ns of starting such 
thoughts as otherwise Would never have come into the 
mind. It makes a student more expert in attacking 
and rei'utrtg an error, as well as In vindicating a truth. 
It instructs the scholar in the various methods of ward- 
ing off the force of objections, and of discovering and re- 
feiling the subtle tricks of sophisters. It procures also 
a freedom and readiness of speech, and raises the mod- 
est and diffident genius to a due degree of courage. 

XVI. But there are some very grievous inconvenien- 
ces that may sometimes overbalance altthese advanta- 



106 OF ACADEMIC, OR 

ges. For mauy young students, by a constant habit of 
disputing, grow impudent and audacious, proud and 
disdainful, talkative and impertinent, and render them- 
selves intolerable by an obstinate humour of maintaining 
whatever they have asserted, as well as by a spirit of 
contradiction, opposing almost every thing that they 
hear. The disputation itself often awakens the passions 
of ambition, emulation, and anger ; it carries away the 
mind from that calm and sedate temper, which is so 
necessary to contemplate truth. 

XVII. It is evident also, that by frequent exercises of 
this sort, wherein opinions true and false are argued, 
supported, and refuted, on both sides, the mind of man 
is led by insensible degrees to an uncertain and fluctuat- 
ing temper, and falls into danger of a skeptical humour, 
which never comes to an establishment in any doctrines. 
Many persons by these means become much more ready 
to oppose whatsoever is offered in searching out truth ; 
thf y hardly wait till they have read or heard the senti- 
ment of any person, before their heads are busily em- 
ployed to seek out arguments against it. f They grow 
naturally sharp in finding out difficulties; and by in- 
dulging this humour, they converse with the dark and 
doubtful parts of a subject so long, till they almost ren- 
der themselves incapable of receiving the full evidence 
of a proposition and acknowledging the light of truth. 
It has some tendency to make a ycuth a carping critic, 
rather than a judicious man .. 

XVIII I would add yet furtner, that in these dis- 
putations the respondent is generally appointed to main- 
tain the supposed truth, that is, the tutor's opinion. 
But all the opponents are busy and warmly engaged in 
finding arguments against the truth. Now if a sprightly 
young genius happens to manage his argument so well 
as to puzzle and gravel the respondent, and perhaps to 
perplex the moderator a little too, he is soon tempted 
to suppose his argument unanswerable, and the truth 
entirely to lie on his side, The pleasure which he takes 
in having found a sophism which has great appearance 
of reason, and which he himself has managed with such 
success, becomes perhaps a strong prejudice to engage 
his inward sentiments in favour of his argument, and in 
oppoMion to the supposed truth. 

XIX- Yet perhaps it may be possible to reduce scho- 
lastic disputations under such a guard as may in some 



SCHOLASTIC DISPUTATION. 10? 

measure prevent most of these abuses of them, and the 
unhappy events that too often attend them ; for it is a 
pity that an exercise, which has some valuable benefits 
attending it, should be utterly thrown awav, if it be pos- 
sible to secure young minds against the abuse of it ; ioi* 
which purpose, some of these directions may seem 
pro; .er : 
XX. General directions for scholastic disputes. 

1. Never dispute upon mere trifles, things that are 
utterly useless to be known, under a vaia pretence of 
sharpening the wit ; for the same advantage may be de- 
rived from solid and useful subjects, and thus two hap- 
py ends may be attained at once. Or if such disputa- 
tions are always thought dangerous in important mat- 
ters, let them be utterly abandoned. 

2. Do not make infinite and unsearchable things the 
matter of dispute, nor such propositions as are made up 
of /mere words without ideas, lest it lead young persons 
into a most unhappy habit of talking without a meaning, 
and boldly to determine upon things that are hardly 
Within the reach of human capacity. 

Si Let not obvious and known truths, or some of the 
most plain and certain propositions be bandied about in 
a disputation, for a mere trial of skill; for he that op- 
poses them in this manner will be in danger of contract- 
ing a habit of opposing all eyidence, will acquire a spi- 
rit of contradiction, and pride himself in the power of 
resisting the brightest light, and fighting against the 
strongest proofs ; this will insensibly injure the mind, 
and tends greatly to an universal skepticism. 

Upon the whole, therefore, the most proper subjects 
of dispute seem to be, those questions which are not of 
the very highest importance and certainty, nor of the 
meanest and trifling kind ; but rather the intermediate 
questions between these two ; and there is a large suf- 
ficiency cf them in the sciences. But this I put as a 
mere proposal, to be determined by the more learned 
and prudent. 

a, 4. It would be well if every dispute could be so or- 
dered as to be a means of searching out truth, and not 
to gain a triumph. \ Then each disputant might come 
to the work without bias and prejudice, with a desire of 
truth, and not with ambition of glory and victory. 

Nor should the aim and design of the disputant be to 
avoid artfully and escape the difficulties which the op- 



108 OF ACADEMIC, OR 

ponent offers, but to discuss them thoroughly, and solve 
them fairly, if they are capable of being solved. 

Again, let the opponent be solicitous not to darken 
and confound the responses that are given him by fresh 
subtitties ; but let him bethink himself whether ihey 
are nut a just answer to the objection, a* d be honestly 
ready to perceive and accept them, and yield to them. 

5. For this end, let both the respondent and oppo- 
nent use the clearest and most distinct and expressive 
language in which they can clothe their thoughts. Let 
them seek and practL<et>revity and perspicuity on both 
sidos, without lung declamations, tedious circumlocu- 
tion?, and rhetorical flourishes. 

If there happens to be any doubt or obscurity on 
either side, let neither the one nor the other ever re-* 
fuse to give a fair explication of the words they use. 

6. They should not indulge ridicule, either of persons 
or things, in their disputations. They should abstain 
from all banter and jest, laughter and merriment; 
These are things that break in upon that philosophical 
gravity, sedateness and serenity of temper, which ought 
to be observed in every search after truth. However an 
argument on some subjects may be sometimes clothed 
with a httle pleasantry, yet a jest or witticism should 
never be used instead of an argument, nor should it ev- 
er be suffered to pass for a real and solid proof. 

But especially, if the subject be sacred or divine, and 
have nothing in it comical or ridiculous, all ludicrous 
turns, and jocose or comical airs, should be entirely ex- 
cluded, lest young minds becone tinctured with a silly 
and profane sort of ridicule, and learn, to jest and tiifle 
with the awful solemnities of religion. 

7. Nov should sarcasm and reproach, or insolent lan- 
guage, ever be used among fair disputants. Turn not 
off from things to speak of persons. Leave ail noisy 
contests, all immodest clamours, brawling language, 
and especially all personal scandal and scurrility, to .he 
meanest part of the vulgar world. Let your manner 
be all candour and gentleness, patient and ready to hear, 
humbly zealous to inform and be informed ; you should 
be free and pleasant in every answer and behaviour, 
rather like well bred gentlemen in polite conversation, 
than like noisy and contentious wranglers. 

8. If the opponent sees victory to incline to his side, 
let him be content to show the force of his argument to 



SCHOLASTIC DISPUTATION. 1Q9 

the intelligent part of the company, with too importu- 
nate and petulant demands of an answer, and without 
insulting over his antagonist, or putting the modesty of 
the respondent to the blush. Nor let the respondent 
triumph over the opponent when he is silent and replies 
no more, On which side soever victory declares itself, 
let neither of them manage with such unpleasing and 
insolent airs, as to awaken those evil passions of pride, 
anger, shame, or resentment, on either side, which, 
alienate the mind from truth, reader it obstinate in the 
defence of an error, and never suffer it to part with, 
any of its old opinions. 

In short, when truth evidently appears on either side, 
let them learn to yield to conviction. When either par- 
ty is at a non/iluti, let them confess the difficulty, and 
desire present assistance, or further time and retire- 
ment to consider of the matter, and not rack their pre- 
sent invention to find out little shifts to avoid the force 
and evidence of truth. 

9. Might it not be a fairer practice, in order to attain 
the best ends of disputation, and to avoid some of the 
iil effects of it, if the opponent were sometimes engag- 
ed on the side of truth, and produced their arguments 
in opposition to error ? And what if the respondent was 
appointed to support the error, and defend it as well as 
he could, till he was forced to yield, at least to those ar- 
guments of the opponent which appear to be really 
just and strong, and unanswerable ? 

In this practice, the thesis of the respondent should 
only be a fair stating of the question, with some of the 
chief objections against the truth proposed and solved. 

Perhaps this practice might not so easily be pervert- 
ed and abused to raise a cavilling, disputative, and 
skeptical temper in the minds of vouth. 

I confess, in this method which I now propose, there 
would be one amongst the students, viz. the respondent, 
always engaged in the support of supposed error ; but 
all vhe rest would be exercising their talents in arguing 
for the supposed truth; whereas, in the common meth- 
ods of uisputation in the schools, especially where the 
students are numerous, each single student is perpetu- 
ally employed to oppose the truth, and vindicate error, 
except once in a long time, when it comes to his turn 
to be respondent. 

10. Upon the whole, it seems necessary that .these 

K 



110 OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 

methods of disputation should be learned in the schools, 
in order to teach students better to defend truth, and 
to refute error, both in writing and conversation, where 
the scholastic forms* are utterly neglected. 

But after all, the advantage which youth may gain 
by disputation depends much on the tutor or modera- 
tor ; he should manage with such prudence, both in the 
disputation and at the end of it, as to make ail the dis- 
putants know the very point of controversy wherein it 
consists ; he should manifest the fallacy of sophistical 
objections, and confirm the solid arguments and an- 
swers. This might teach students how to make the art 
of disputation useful, for the searching out the truth and 
the defence of it, that it may not be learned and prac- 
tised only as an art of wrangling, which reigned in the 
schools several hundred years, and divested the grow- 
ing reason of youth of its best hopes and improvements. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Of Study y or Meditation. 

I. IT has been proved and established in some of 
the foregoing chapters, that neither our own observa- 
tions, nor our reading the labours of the learned, nor 
the attendance on the best lectures of instruction, nor 
enjoying the brightest conversation, can ever make a 
man truly knowing and wise, without the labours cf his 
own reason in surveying, examining, and judging, con- 
cerning all subjects, upon the best evidence he can ac- 
quire. A good genius, or sagacity of thought, a happy 
judgment, a capacious memory, and large opportuni- 
ties of observation and converse, will do much of them- 
selves toward the cultivation of the mind, where the)* 
are well improved ; but where, to the advantage of 
learned lectures, living instructions, and well chosen 
books, diligence and study are superadded, this man has 
all human aids concurring to raise him to a supenor 
degree of wisdom and knowledge. 

Under the preceding heads of discourse, it has been 
already declared how our own meditation and reflec- 
tion should examine, cultivate, and improve, all other 
methods and advantages of enriching the understanding 
What remains in this chapter, is to give some further 



OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. Ill 

occasional hints how to employ our own thoughts, what 
sort of subjects we should meditate on, and in what 
manner we should regulate our studies, and how we 
may improve our judgment, so as in the most effectual 
and compendious way to attain such knowledge as may- 
be most useful for every man in his circumstances of 
life, and particularly for those of the learned professions. 

II. The first direction for youth is this, learn betimes 
to distinguish between words and things. Get clear and 
plain ideas of the things you are set to study. Do not 
content yourselves with mere words and names, lest 
your laboured improvements only amass a heap of unin- 
telligible phrases, and you feed upon husks instead of 
kernels. This rule is of unknown use in every science. 

But the greatest and most common danger, is in the 
sacred science of theology, where settled terms and 
phrases have been pronounced divine and orthodox, 
which yet have had no meaning in them. The scholas- 
tic divinity would furnish us with numerous instances of 
this folly ; and yet for many ages, all truth and all her- 
esy have been determined by such senseless tests, and 
by words without ideas ; such Shibboleths as these have 
decided the secular fates of men ; and bishoprics, or 
burning, mitres, or faggots have been the rewards of 
different persons, according as they pronounced these 
consecrated syllables, or not pronounced them. To de- 
fend them was all piety, and pomp, and triumph ; to 
despise them, to doubt or deny them, was torture and 
death. A thousand thank-< ffenngs are due to that 
Providence, which has delivered our age and our na- 
tion from these absurd iniquities ! O that every speci- 
men and shadow of this madness were banished from 
our schools and churches in every shape ! 

III. Let not young students apply themselves to 
search out deep, dark, and abstruse • matters, tar above 
their reach, or spend their labour in any peculiar sub- 
jects, for which they have not the advantages of neces- 
sary antecedent learning, or books, or observations. Let 
them not be too hasty to know things above their present 
powers, nor plunge their inquiries at once into the depths 
of knowledge, nor begin to study any science in the mid- 
dle of it ; this will confound rather than enlighten the 
understanding; such practices may happen to discour- 
age and jade the mind by an attempt above its power; 
it may pervert the understanding, and create an aversion 



1.12 OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 

to future diligence, and perhaps by despair may forbid 
the pursuit of that subject forever afterwards; as a 
limb overstrain^ d by lifting 1 a weight above its power, 
may never recover its former agility and vigour ; or if 
it does, the man may be frighted from ever exerting its 
strength again. 

IV." Nor yet let any student, on the other hand, fright 
himself at every turn with insurmountable difficulties, 
nor imagine that the truth is wrapt up in impenetrable 
darkness. These are formidable spectres which the 
understanding raises sometimes to flatter its own lazi- 
ness. Those things which, in a remote and confused 
view, seem very obscure and perplexed, may be ap- 
proached by gentle and regular steps, and may then 
unfold and explain themselves at large to the eye. The 
hardest problems in geometry, and the most intricate 
schemes or diagrams, may be explicated and under- 
stood, step by step ; every great mathematician bears a 
constant witness to this observation. 

V. In learning any new thing, there should be as 
little as passible first proposed to the mind at once, and 
that being understood and fully mastered, proceed then 
to the next adjoining part yet unknown. This is a slow, 
bu' safe and sm-e wav to arrive at knowledge. If the 
miad apply itself at first to easier subjects, and things 
near 'kin to what is already known, and then advance 
to the more remote and knottv parts of knowledge by 
slow degrees, it would be able in this manner to cope 
■with great difficulties, and prevail over them with 
amazing and happy success. 

Math on happened to dip into the two last chapters 
of a new book of geometry and mensurations; as soon 
as he saw it, and was frighted with the complicated 
diagrams which he found there, about the frustums of 
cones and pyramid*, &c. and some deep demonstra- 
tions among conic sections ; he shut the book again in 
despair, and imagined none but Sir Isaac Newton was 
ever fit to read it. But his tutor happilv persuaded him 
to begin the first pages about lines and angles, and he 
found such surprising pleasure in three weeks time in 
the victories he daily obtained, that at last he became 
one of the chief geometers of h ; s age 

VI. Engage not the mind in the intense pursuit of 
too many things at once ; especially such as have no re- 
lation to one another. This will be ready to distract the 



OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 113 

understanding, and hinder it from attaining perfection 
in any one subject of study. Such a practice gives a 
slight smattering of several sciences, without any solid 
and substantial knowledge of them, and without any 
real and valuable improvement ; and though two or 
three sorts of study may be usually carried on at once, 
to entertain the mind with variety, that it may not be 
over tired with one sort of thoughts ; yet a multitude of 
subjects will too much distract the attention, and weaken 
the application of the mind to any one of them. 

Where two or three sciences are pursued at the same 
time, if one of them be dry, abstracted, and unpleasant, 
as logic, metaphysics, law, languages, let another be 
more entertaining and agreeable, to secure the mind 
from weariness, and aversion to study. Delight should 
be intermingled with labour as far as possible, to allure 
us to bear the fatigue of dry studies the better. Poetry, 
practical mathematics, history, £cc. are generally es- 
teemed entertaining studies, and may be happily used 
for this purpose. Thus, while we relieve a dull and 
heavy hour by some alluring employments of the mind, 
our very diversions enrich our understandings, and our 
pleasure is turned into profit. 

VII. In the pursuit of every valuable subject of knowl- 
edge, keep the end always in your eye, and be not di- 
verted from it by every petty trifle you meet with in the 
way. Some persons have such a wandering genius, that 
they are ready to pursue every incidental theme or ac- 
casional idea, till they have lost sight of their original 
subject. These are the men who, when they are en- 
gaged in conversation, prolong their story by dwelling 
on every incident, and swell their narrative with long 
parentheses, till they have lost their first design ; like 
a man who is sent in quest of some great treasure, but 
he steps aside to gather every flower he finds, or stands 
still to dig up everv shining pebble he meets with in his 
wav, till the treasure is forgotten and never found. 

VIII. Exert your care, skill, and diligence, about 
every subject and every question, in a just proportion to 
the importance of it, together with the danger and bad 
consequences of ignorance and error therein. Many 
excellent advantages flow from this one direction. 

1. This rule will teach you to be very careful in gain- 
ing some general, aiv; fundamental truths in philosophy, 
in religion, and ii huma.n life ; because they are of the 
K2 



114 OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 

highest moment, and conduct our thoughts with ease 
into a thousand inferior and particular propositions. 
Such is that great principle in natural philosophy, the 
doctrine of gravitation, or mutual tendency of all bodies 
towards each other, which Sir Isaac Newton has so 
well established, and from which he has drawn the so- 
lution of a multitude of appearances in the heavenly 
bodies as well as on earth. 

Such is that golden principle of morality which our 
blessed Lord has given us, * c Do that to others which 
you thnk just and reasonable that others should dp to 
you ;" which is almost sufficient in itself to solve all cases 
of conscience which relate to our neighbour. 

Such are those principles in religion, that a rational 
creature is accountable to his Maker for all his actions; 
that the soul of man is immortal ; that there is a future 
state of happiness and of misery depending on our be- 
haviour in the present life, on "which all our religious 
practices are built or supported. 

We should be very curious in examining all proposi- 
tions that pretend to' this honour of being general prin- 
ciples ; and we should not without just evidence admit 
into this rank mere matters of common fame, or com- 
monly received opinions; no, nor the general determin- 
ations of the learned, or the established articles of any 
church or nation, &c. for there are many learned pre- 
sumptions, many synodical and national mistakes, ma- 
ny established falsehoods, as well as many vulgar er- 
rors, wherein multitudes of men have followed one 
another for whole ages almost blindfold. It is of great 
importance for every man to be careful that these gen- 
eral principles are just and true; for one error may 
lead us into thousands, which will naturally follow, if 
once a leading falsehood be admitted. 

2. This rule will direct us to be more careful about 
practical points than mere speculations, since they re 
commonly of much greater use and consequence; 
therefore the speculations of algebra, the doctrine of 
infinities, and the quadrature of curves in mathametical 
learning, together with all the train of theorems in 
natural philosophy, should by no means intrench upon 
our studies of morality and virtue. Even in the science 
of divinity itself, the sublimest speculations of it are not 
of (hat worth and value, as the rules of duty towards 
God and towards men. 



OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 115 

3. In matters of practice, we should be most careful 
to fix our end right, and wisely determine the scope at 
which we aim ; because that is to direct us in the choice 
and use of all the means to attain it. If our end be 
wrong, all our labour in the means will be vain, or per- 
haps so much the more pernicious, as they are better 
suited to attain that mistaken end. If mere sensible 
pleasure, or human grandeur, or wealth, be our chief 
end, we shall choose means contrary to piety and vir- 
tue, and proceed apace towards real misery. 

4. This rule will engage our best powers and deepest 
attention in the affairs of religion, and things that relate 
to a future world ; for those propositions which extend 
only to the interest of the present life, are but of small 
importance when compared with those that have influ- 
ence upon our everlasting concernments. 

5. And even in the affairs of religion, if we walk by 
the conduct of this rule, we shall be much more labori- 
ous in our inquiries into the necessary and fundamental 
articles of faith and practice*; than the lesser appendi- 
ces of Christianity. The doctrines of repentance to- 
wards God faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, with love to 
men, and universal holiness, will employ our best and 
brightest hours and meditations ; while the mint, anise, 
and cummin, the gesture*, vestures, and fringes of reli- 
gion , will be regarded no further than they have a plain 
and evident connexion with faith and love, with holi- 
ness and peace. 

6. This rule will make us solicitous not only to avoid 
such errors, whose influence will spread wide into the 
whole scheme of our own knowledge and practice, but 
such mistakes also whose influence would be yet more 
extensive and injurious to others, as well as to ourselves; 
perhaps to many persons or many families ; to a whole 
church, a town, a country, or a kingdom. Upon this 
account, persons who are called to instruct others, who 
are raised to anv eminence, either in church or state, 
ought to be careful in settling their principles in matters 
relating to the civil, the moral, or the religious life, lest 
a mistake of theirs should diffuse wide mischief, should 
draw along with it most pernicious consequences, and 
perhaps extend to following generations. 

These are some of the advantages which arise from 
the eighth rule, viz. Pursue every inquiry and study in 
proportion to its real value and importance. 

IX, Have a care lest some beloved notion, or some 



116 OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 

darling science, so far prevail over your mind, as to 
give a sovereign tincture to all your other studies, and 
discolour all your ideas ; like a person in the jaundice, 
who spreads a yellow scene with his eyes over all the 
objects which he meets. I have known a man of peculiar 
skill in music, and much devoted to that science, who 
found out a great resemblance of theAthanasian doctrine 
of the Trinity in every single note, and he thought it car- 
ried something of argument in it to prove the doctrine. 
I have read of another, who accommodated the seven 
days of the first week of creation to seven notes of music, 
and thus the whole creation became harmonious. 

Under this influence, derived from mathematical stu- 
dies, some have been tempted to cast all their logical, 
their metaphysical, and their theological, and moral 
learning into the method of mathematicians, and bring 
every thing relating to those abstracted, or those prac- 
tical sciences, under theorems, problems, postulates, 
scholiums, corollaries, &c. whereas the matter nought 
always to direct the method ; for all subjects or matters 
of thought, cannot be moulded or subdued to one form. 
Neither the rules for the conduct of the understanding, 
nor the doctrines nor the duties of religion and virtue, 
can be exhibited naturally in figures and diagrams. 
Things are to be considered as they are in themselves ; 
their natures are inflexible, and their natural relations 
inalterable ; and therefore, in order to conceive them 
aright, we must bring our understandings to things, and 
not pretend to bend and strain things to comport with 
our fancies and forms. 

X. Suffer not any beloved study to prejudice your 
mind so far in favour of it as to despise all other learn- 
ing. This is a fault of some little souls, who have got 
a smattering of astronomy, chemistry, metaphysics* 
history, Sec. and for want of a due acquaintance with 
other sciences, make a scoff at them all, in comparison 
of their favourite science. Their understandings are 
hereby cooped up in narrow bounds, so that they never 
look abroad into other provinces of the intellectual 
world, which are more beautiful, perhaps, and more 
fruitful than their own; if they would search a little into 
other sciences, they might not only find treasures of new 
knowledge, but might be furnished also with rich hints 
of thought, and glorious assistances, to cultivate that 
very province to which they have confined themselves, 



OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 117 

Here I would always give some grams of allowance 
to the sacred science of theology, which is incomparably 
superior to all the rest, as it tenches us the knowledge 
of God, and the way to bis eternal favour. This is that 
noble study which is every man's duty, and every one 
who car. be called a rational creature is cap hie of it. 
This is that science which would truly enlarg the 
minds of men, were it studied with that tre< dom,' that 
unbiassed love of truth, and that sacred eh rity which 
it teaches ; and if it were not made, contr^n to its own 
nature, the occasion of strife, faction, malignity, a nar- 
row spirit, and unreasonable impositions on the mind 
and practice. Let this, therefore, stand always chief. 
• XI. Let every particular study have due and proper 
time assigned it, and let not a favourite science prevail 
with you to lay out such hours upon it, as ous?ht to be 
employed upon the more necessary and more important 
affairs or studies of your profession When you have, 
according to the best of your discretion* and according 
to the circumstances of your life, fixed proper hours for 
particular studies, endeavour to keep to those rules; not 
indeed with a superstitious preriseness, but with some 
good degree of a regular constancy Ord r and method 
in a course of study saves much time, and make ;; large 
improvements ; such a fixation of certain hours will 
have a h^ppy influence to secure you from trifling and 
wasting away your minutes in impertinence. 

XII. Do not applv yourself to any one study at one 
time long-T than the mind is capable of giving a close 
attention to it without weariness or wandering. Do not 
over-fatigue the spirits at any time, lest the mind be 
seized with a lassitude, and thereby be tempted to nau- 
seate and grow tired of a particular subject before ycu 
have finished it. 

XIII. In the beginning' of your application to any v^w 
subject be not too uneasy under present difficulties that 
occur, nor too importunate and impatient for answers 
and solutions to any questions that arise. Perhaps a little 
more study, a little further acquaintance with the sub- 
ject, a little time and experience, will solve those diffi- 
culties, untie the knot, and make your donbts vanish ; 
especially if you are under the instruction of a tutor, he 
can inform vou that your inquiries are perhaps too early, 
and that you hr>ve not yet learned those principles upon 
which the solution of such a difficulty depends. 



118 OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 

XIV. Do not expect, to arrive at certainty in every 
subject which you pursue. There are a hundred thugs 
wherein we mortals, in this dark and imperfect state, 
must be content with probability, where our best hg-ht 
and reasonings will reach no further. We must balance 
arguments as justly as we can, and where we cannot 
find weight enough on either side to determine the scale 
with sovereign force and assurance, we must content 
ourselves perhaps with a small preponderation. This 
will give us a probable opinion, and those probabilities 
are sufficient for the daily determination of a thousand 
actions in human life, and many times even in matters of 
religion. 

It is admirably well expressed by a late writer, 
" When there is a great strength of argument set before 
us, if we will refuse to do what appears most fit for us, 
until every little objection be removed, we shall never 
take one wise resolution as long as we live." 

Suppose I had been honestly and lori£ searching what 
religion I should choose, and yet I could not find that 
the arguments in defence of Christianity arose to com- 
plete certainty, but went only so far as to give me a 
probable evidence of the truth of it ; though many diffi- 
culties still remained, yet I should think myself obliged 
to receive and practise that religion ; for the God of 
nature and reason has bound us to assent, and act ac- 
cording to the best evidence we have, even though it be 
not absolute and complete; and as he is our supreme 
Judge, his abounding goodness and equity will approve 
and acquit the man whose conscience honestly and wil- 
lingly seeks the best light, and obeys it as far as he can 
discover it. 

But in matters of great importance in religion, let him 
join all due diligence with earnest and humble prayer 
for divine aid in his inquiries ; such prayer and such 
diligence as eternal concerns require, and such as he 
may plead with courage before the Judge of all. 

XV Endeavour to apply every speculative study, 
as far as possible, to some practical use, that both your- 
self and others may be the better for it. Inquiries even 
in natural philosophy should not be mere amusements, 
and much less in the affairs of religion. Researches 
into the springs of natural bodies and their motions should 
lead men to invent happy methods for the ease and con- 
venience of human life ; or at least they should be im= 



OF STUDY, OR MEDITATION. 119 

proved to awaken us to admire the wondrous wisdom and 
contrivance of God ourCreator, in all the works of nature. 

If we pursue mathematical speculations, they will in- 
ure us to attend closely to any subject, to seek and gain 
clear ideas, to distinguish truth from falsehood, to judge 
justly, and to argue strongly ; and these studies do more 
directly furnish us with all the various rules of those 
useful arts of life, viz measuring, building, sailing, &c. 

Even our inquires and disputations about vacuum or 
space, and atoms, about incommensurable quantities, 
and infinite divisibility of matter, and eternal duration, 
which seem to be purely speculative, will show us some 
good practical lessons, will lead us to see the weakness 
of our nature, and should teach us humility in arguing 
upon divine subjects and matters of sacred revelation. 
This should guard us against rejecting any doctrine 
which is expressly and evidently revealed, though we 
cannot fully understand it. It is good sometimes to lose 
and bewilder ourselves in such studies for this very rea- 
son, that we attain this practical advantage, this improve- 
ment in true modesty of spirit. 

XVI. Though we should always be ready to change 
our sentiments of things upon just conviction of their 
falsehood, yet there is not ihe same necessity of chang- 
ing our accustomed methods of reading, or study and 
practice, even though we have not been led at first into 
the happiest method. Our thoughts may be true, though 
we may have hit upon an improper order of thinking. 
Truth does not always depend upon the most convenient 
method. There may be a certain form and order in 
which we have long accustomed ourselves to range our 
ideas and notions, which may be best for us now, though 
it was not originally best in itself. The inconveniences 
of changing may be much greater than the conveniences 
we could obtain by a new method. 

As for instance ; if a man in his younger days has 
ranged all his sentiments in theology in the method of 
Ames's Medulla The.ologiae, or Bishop Usher's Body of 
Divinity, it may be much more natural arid easy for him 
to continue to dispose all his further acquirements in 
the same order, though perhaps neither of those trea- 
tises are in themselves written in the most perfect 
method. So when we have long fixed our cases of 
shelves in a library, and ranged our books in any par- 
ticular order, viz, according to their languages, or ac- 



120 OF FIXING THE ATTENTION. 

cording to their subjects, or according to the alphabet- 
ical names of the authors, &c. we are perfectly well ac- 
quainted with the order in which they now stand, and 
we can find any particular book which we seek, or add 
a new book which we have purchased, with much great- 
er ease than we can do in finer cases of shelves, where 
the books ranged in any different manner whatso- 
ever, any different position of the volumes would be 
new, and strange, and troublesome to us, and would not 
countervail the inconveniences of a change. 

So if a man of forty years old has been taught to hold 
his pen awkwardly in his youth, and yet writes suffi- 
ciently well for all the purposes of his station, it is not 
worth while to teach him now the most accurate meth- 
ods of handling that instrument; for this would create 
him more trouble without equal advantage, and per- 
haps he might never attain to write better after he has 
placed his fingers perfectly right with this new accuracy. 



CHAPTER XV. 
Of fixing the Attention. 

A STUDENT should labour, by all proper methods, 
to acquire a steady fixation of thought. Attention is a 
Very uecessary thing in order to improve our minds. 
The evidence 01 truth does not always appear immedi- 
ately, nor strike the soul at first sight. It is by long at- 
tention and inspection tfiat we arrive at evidence, and 
it is for want of it we judge falsely of many things. We 
make haste to determine upon a slight and a sudden 
view, we confirm our guesses which arise from a glance, 
we pass a judgment while we have but a confused or 
obscure perception, and thus plunge ourselves into mis- 
takes. This is like a man, who, walking in a mist, or 
being at a great distance from auy visible object, (sup- 
pose a tree, a man, a horse, or a church J judges much 
amiss of the figure and situation and colours of it, and 
sometimes takes one tor the other ; whereas, if he would 
but withhold his judgment till he came nearer to it, or 
stay till clearer light comes, and then would fix his eyes 
longer upon it, he would secure himself from those mis- 
takes. 

Now, in order to gain a greater facility of attention, 
we may observe these rules : 



OF FIXING THE ATTENTION, 181 

I. Get a good liking to a study of the knowledge you 
would pursue We may observe, that there is not much 
difficulty in confining the mind to contemplate what we 
have a great desire to know ; and especially if they are 
matters of sense, or ideas which paint themselves upon 
the fancy. It is but acquiring an hearty good will and 
resolution to search out and survey the various proper- 
ties and parts of such objects, and our attention will be 
engaged, if there be any delight or diversion in the study 
or contemplation of them. Therefore mathematical 
studies have a strange influence towards fixing the at- 
tention of the mind, and giving a steadiness to a wander- 
ing disposition, because they deal much in lines, figures, 
and numbers ; which affect and please the sense and 
imagination. Histories have a strong tendency the same 
way, for they engage the soul by a variety of sensible 
occurrences ; when it hath begun, it knows not how to 
leave off; it longs to know the final event, through a 
natura| curiosity that belongs to mankind. Voyages 
and travels, and accounts of strange countries and 
strange appearances, will assist in this work. This sort 
of study detains the mind by the perpetual occurrence 
and expectation of something new, and that which may 
gratefully strike the imagination. 

II. Sometimes we may make use of sensible things 
and corporeal images for the illustration of those notions 
which are more abstracted and intellectual. Therefore 
diagrams greatly assist the mind in astronomy and phi- 
losophy ; and the emblems of virtues ?nd vices may 
happily teach children, and pleasingly impress those 
useful moral ideas on young minds, which perhaps might 
be conveyed to them with much more difficulty by mere 
moral and abstracted discourses. 

I confess, in this practice of representing moral sub- 
jects by pictures, we should be cautious lest we so far 
immerse the mind in corporeal images, as to render it 
unfit to take in an abstracted and intellectual idea, or 
cause it to form wrong conceptions of immaterial things. 
This practice, therefore, is rather to be used at first in 
order to get a fixed habit of attention, and in some cases 
only; but it can never be our constant way and method 
of pursuing all moral, abstracted, and spiritual themes. 

III. Apply yourself to those studies, and read those 
authors who draw out their subjects into a perpetual 
chain of connected reasoning, , wherein the following 

L 



122 - OF FIXING THE ATTENTION. 

parts of the discourse are naturally and easily derived 
from those which go before, Several of the mathemat- 
ical sciences, if not all, are happily useful for this pur- 
pose. This will render the labour of study delightful to 
a rational mind, and will fix the powers of the under- 
standing with strong attention to their proper operations 
by the very pleasure of it. Labor ipse volu/nas, is a 
happy proposition, wheresoever it can be applied. 

IV. Do not choose your constant place of study by 
the finery of the prospects, or the most various and en- 
tertaining scenes of sensible things. Too much light, or 
a variety of objects which strike the eye, or the ear, es- 
pecially while they are ever in motion, or often chang- 
ing, have a natural and powerful tendency to steal away 
the mind too often from its steady pursuit of any subject 
which we contemplate ; and thereby the soul gets a 
habit of silly curiosity and impertinence, of trifling and 
wandering. Vagario thought himself furnished with 
the best closet for his study among the beauties, gaieties, 
and diversions of Kensington or Hampton Court ; but 
after seven years professing to pursue learning, he was a 
mere novice still. 

V. Be not in too much haste to come to the determi- 
nation of a difficult or important point. Think it worth 
your waiting to find out truth. Do not give your assent 
up to either side of a question too soon, merely on this 
account, that the study of it is long and difficult. Rath- 
er be contented with ignorance for a season, and contin- 
ue in suspense till your attention, and meditation, and 
due labour, have found out sufficient evidence on one 
side. Some are so vain to know a great deal at once, 
and love to talk of things with freedom and boldness be- 
fore they truly understand them, that they scarcely 
ever allow themselves attention enough to search the 
matter through and through. 

VI. Have a care of indulging the more sensual pas- 
sions and appetites of animal nature ; they are great 
enemies to attention. Let not the mind of a student be 
under the influence of any warm affection to things of 
sense, when he comes to engage in the search of truth or 
the improvement of his understanding. A person under 
the power of love, or fear, or anger, great pain, or deep 
sorrow, hath so little government of his soul, that he can- 
not keep it attentive to the proper su ject of his medi- 
tation. The passions call away the thoughts with in- 



CAPACITY OF THE MIND. 123 

cessant importunity towards the object that excited 
them ; and if we indulge the frequent rise and roving 
of passions, we shall thereby procure an unsteady and 
inattentive habit of mind. 

Yet this one exception must be admitted, viz. If we 
can be so happy a? to engage any passion of the soul on 
the side of the particular study which we are pursuing, 
it may have great influence to fix the attention more 
strongly to it. 1 

VII. It is therefore very useful to fix and engage the 
mind in the pursuit of any study, by a consideration of 
the divine pleasures of truth and knowledge, by a sense 
of our duty to God, by a delight in the exercise of our 
intellectual faculties, by the hope of future service to 
our fellow creatures, and glorious advantage to ourselves, 
both in this world and that which is to come. These 
thoughts, though they may move our affections, yet 
they do it with a proper influence ; these will rather as- 
sist and promote our attention, than disturb or divert it 
from the subject of our present and proper meditations. 
A soul inspired with the fondest Jove of truth, and the 
warmest aspirations after sincere felicity and celestial 
beatitude, will keep all its powers attentive to the inces- 
sant pursuit of them ; passion is then refined and conse- 
crated to its divinest purposes. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Of Enlarging the Capacity of the Mind, 

THERE are three things which in an especial manner 
go to make up that amplitude or capacity of mind 
which is one of the noblest characters belonging to the 
understanding: (1 ) When the mind is ready to take in 
great and sublime ideas without pain or difficulty. (2.) 
When the mind is free to receive new and strange ideas, 
upon just evidence, without great surprise or aversion. 
(3.) When the mind is able to conceive or survey many 
ideas at once without confusion, and to form a true judg- 
ment derived from that, extensive survey. The person 
who wants either of these characters, may in that re- 
spect be said to have a narrow genius. Let us diffuse 
our meditations a little upon this subject. 



124 OF ENLARGING THE 

I. That is an ample and capacious mind, which is 
ready to take in vast and sublime ideas without pain or 
difficulty. Persons who have never been used to con- 
verse with any thing but the common, little, and obvious 
affairs of life, have acquired a narrow or contracted 
habit of soul, that thev are not able to stretch their in- 
tellects wide enough to admit large and noble thoughts; 
they are ready to make their domestic, daily, and fa- 
miliar images of things, the measure of all that is, and 
all that can be. 

Talk to them of the vast dimensions of the planetary 
worlds; tell them that the star called Jupiter is a solid 
globe, two hundred and twenty times bigger than our 
earth ; that the sun is a vast globe of fire, above a thou- 
sand times bigger than Jupiter, that is, two hundred 
and twenty thousand times bigger than the earth; that 
the distance from the earth to the sun is eighty one mil- 
lions of miles; and that a cannon bullet shot from the 
earth would not arrive at the nearest of the fixed stars, 
in some hundreds of years ; they cannot bear the beiief 
of it, but hear all these glorious labours of astronomy as 
a mere idle romance. 

Inform them of the amazing swiftness of the motion 
of some of the smallest or the biggest bodies in nature ; 
assure them, according to the best philosophy, that the 
planet Venus, (J. e. our morning or evening star, which 
is near as big as our earth,) though it seems to move 
from its place but a (ew yards in a month, does really 
fly seventy thousand miles in an hour ; tell them that 
the rays of light shoot from the sun to our earth at the 
rate of one hundred and eighty thousand miles in the 
second of a minute ; they stand aghast at such sort of 
talk, and believe it no more than, the tales of giants fif- 
ty yards high, and the rabbinical fables of Leviathan, 
who every day swallows a fish of three miles long, and 
is thus preparing himself to be the food and entertain- 
ment of the blessed at the feast at Paradise. 

These unenlarged souls are in the same manner dis- 
gusted with the wonders which the microscope has dis- 
covered concerning the shape, the limbs, and motions of 
ten thousand little animals, whose united bulk would not 
equal a pepper-corn ; they are ready to give the lie to 
all the improvements of our senses by the invention of a 
variety of glasses, and will scarcely believe any thing 



CAPACITY. OF. THE MIND. 125 

beyond the testimony of the naked eye, without the as= 
sistance of art. 

Now if we would attempt in a learned manner to re- 
lieve the minds that labour under this defect : 

(I.) ft is useful to begin with some first principles of 
geometry, and lead them onward by degrees to the doc- 
trine of quantities which are incommensurable, or which 
will admit of no common measure, though it be never 
so small. By this means they will see the necessity of 
admitting the infinite divisibility of quantity or matter. 

This same doctrinemay also be proved to their un- 
derstandings, and almost to their senses, by some easier 
arguments in a most obvious manner. As the very op- 
ening and closing of a pair of compasses will evidently 
prove, that if the smallest supposed part of matter or 
quantity be put between the points, there will be still 
less and less-distances or quantities all the way between 
the legs, till you come to the head or joint; wherefore 
there is no such thing possible as the smallest quantity. 
But a little acquaintance with true philosophy and 
mathematical learning would soon teach them, that 
there are no limits either as to the extension of space 
or to the division of body, and would lead them to be- 
lieve there are bodies amazingly great or small beyond 
their present imagination. 

(2.) It is proper also to acquaint them with the cir- 
cumference of our earth, which may be proved by very- 
easy principles of geometry, geography, and astronomy, 
to be about twenty-four thousand miles round, as it has 
been actually found to have this dimension by mariners 
who have sailed round it. Then let them be taueht, 
"that in every twenty four hours, either the sun and stars 
must all move round this earth, or the earth must turn 
round upon its own axis. If the earth itself revolve »hus, 
then each house or mountain near the equator, must 
move at the rate of a thousand miles in an hour ; but if 
(as they generally suppose) the sun or stars move round 
the earth, then (the circumference of their several or- 
bits or spheres being vastly greater than this earth) they 
must have a motion prodigiously swifter than a thousand 
miles an hour. Such a thought as this will by degrees 
enlarge their minds ; and they will be taught, even up- 
on their own principles of the diurnal revolutions of the 
heavens, to take in some of the vast dimensions of the 
heavenly bodies, their spaces -and motions. 
L2 



126 OF ENLARGING THE 

(3.) To this should be added the use of telescopes, to 
help them to seethe distant wonders in the skies; and 
microscopes, which discover the minutest parts of little 
animals, and reveal some of the finer and more curious 
works of nature. They should be acquainted also with 
some other noble inventions of modern philosophy, which 
have a great influence to enlarge the human under- 
standing, of which I shall take occasion to speak more 
under the next head. 

(4.) For the same purpose they may be invited to 
read those parts of Milton's admirable poem, entitled 
Paradise Lost, where he describes the armies and pow- 
ers of angels, the wars and the senate of devils, the cre- 
ation of this earth, together with the descriptions of 
heaven, hell, and paradise. 

It must be granted that poesy often deals in these 
vast and sublime ideas. And even if the subject or 
matter of the poem doth not require such amazing and 
extensive thoughts, yet tropes and figures, which are 
some of the main powers and beauties of poesy, do so 
gloriously exalt the matter, as to give a sublime imag- 
ination its proper relish and delight. 

So when a boar is chased in hunting, 

.....His nostrils flames expire, 

And his red eye balls roll, with living fire Dryden* 

When Ulysses withholds and suppresses his resentment, 

His wrath comprest, 

Recoiling, muttered thunder in his breast ...Pope. 

But especially where the subject is grand, the poet 
fails not to represent it in all its grandeur. 
So when the supremacy of God is described : 

He sees with equal eye, as God of all, 

A hero perish, or a. sparrow fall : 

Atoms or systems into ruin hutiM ; 

And now a bubble burst, and now a world..,.».Pope. 

These sorts of writing have a natural tendency to en- 
large the capacity of the mind, and make sublime ideas 
familiar to it. And instead of running always to the 
ancient Heathen poesy with this design, we may with 
equal, if not superior advantage, apply ourselves to con- 
verse with some of the best of our modern poets, as well 
as with the writings of the prophets, and the poetical 
parts of the Bible, viz. the book of Job and the Psalms, 



CArACITY OF THE MIND. 127 

in which sacred authors we shall find sometimes more 
sublime ideas, more glorious descriptions, more elevat- 
ed language, than the fondest critics have ever found 
in any of the Heathen versifiers either of Greece or 
Rome ; for the eastern writers use and allow much 
stronger figures and tropes than the western. 

Now there are many great and sacred advantages to 
be derived from this sort of enlargement of the mind. 

It will lead us into more exalted apprehensions of the 
great God our Creator than ever we had before. It will 
entertain our thoughts with holy wonder and amaze- 
ment, while we contemplate that Being who created 
these various works of surprising greatness, and sur- 
prising smallness ; who have displayed most inconceiva- 
ble wisdom in the contrivance of all the parts, powers, 
and motions of these little animals, invisible to the nak- 
ed eye ; who has manifested a most divine extent of 
knowledge, power, and greatness, in forming, moving, 
and managing the most extensive bulk of the heavenly 
bodies, and in surveying and comprehending all those 
immeasurable spaces in which they move. Fancy, with 
all her images, is fatigued and overwhelmed in follow- 
ing the planetary worlds through such immense stages, 
such astonishing journies as these are, and resigns its 
place to the pure intellect, which learns by degrees to 
take in such ideas as these, and to adore its Creator 
with new and sublime devotion. 

And not only are we taught to form juster ideas of 
the great God by these methods, but this enlargement 
of the mind carries us on to nobler conceptions of his in- 
telligent creatures The mind that Heals only in vul- 
gar and common ideas, is ready to imagine the nature 
and powers of man to come something too near to God 
his Maker, because we do not see or sensibly converse 
with any beings superior to ourselves. But when the 
soul has obtained a greater amplitude of thought, it will 
not then immediately pronounce every thing to be God 
which is above man. It then learns to suppose there 
may he as many various ranks of beings in the invisible 
world in a constant gradation superior to us, as we our- 
selves are superior to all the ranks of being beneath us 
in this visiWe world ; even though we descend down- 
ward far below the ant and the worm, the snail and the 
oyster, to the least and to the dullest animated atoms 
which are discovered to us by microscopes. 



128 OF ENLARGING THE 

By this means we shall be able to suppose what pro- 
digious power angels, whether good or bad, must be fur- 
nished with, and extensive knowledge, in order to over- 
see the realms of Persia and Grecia of old, or if any 
such superintend the affairs of Great Britain, France, 
Ireland, Germany, &c. in our days: What power and 
speed is necessary to destroy one hundred and eighty- 
five thousand armed men in one night in the Assyrian 
camp of Sennacherib, and all the first born in the land 
of Egypt in another, both which are attributed to an 
angel. *. 

By these steps we shall ascend to form more just ideas 
of the knowledge and grandeur, the power and glory of 
the man, Jesus Christ, who is intimately united to God, 
and is one with him. Doubtless he is furnished with su- 
perior powers to all the angels in heaven, because be is 
employed in superior work, and appointed to be the 
Sovereign Lord of all the visible and invisible worlds. 
It is his human nature,' in which the Godhead dwells 
bodily, that is advanced to these honours, and to this 
empire ; and perhaps there is little or nothing in the 
government of the kingdoms of nature and grace, but 
what is transacted by the man Jesus, inhabited by the 
divine power and wisdom, and employed as a medium 
or conscious instrument of this extensive dominion 

II. I proceed now to consider the next thing where- 
in the capacity or amplitude of the mind consists, and 
that is, when the mind is free to receive new and strange 
ideas and propositions upon just evidence, without any 
great surprise or aversion. Those who confine them- 
selves within the circle of their own hereditary ideas 
and opinions, and who never give themselves leave so 
much as to examine or believe any thing beside the dic- 
tates of their own family, or sect, or party, are justly 
charged with a narrowness of soul. Let us survey some 
instances of this imperfection, and then direct to the 
cure of it. 

(I.) Persons who have been bred up all their days 
within the smoke of their father's chimney, or within 
the limits of their native town and village, are surprised 
at every new sight that appears, when they travel a 
few miles from home. The ploughman stands amazed at 
the shops, the trade, the crowds of people, the magnifi- 
cent buildings, the pomp, the riches, and equipage of 
the court and city, and would hardly believe what was 



CAPACITY OF THE MIND. 129 

told him before he saw it. On the other hand, the cock- 
ney travelling into the country, is surprised at many 
actions of the quadruped and winded animals in the field, 
and at many common practices of rural affairs. 

If either of these happen to hear an account of the 
familiar and daily customs of foreign countries, they 
pronounce them at once indecent and ridiculous; sonar- 
row are their understandings, and their thoughts so con- 
fined, that they know not hew to believe any thing wise 
and proper, besides what they have been taught to 
practise. 

This narrowness of mind should be cured by hearing 
and reading the accounts of different parts of the world, 
and the histories of past ages, and of nations and coun- 
tries distant from our own, especially the more polite 
parts of mankind. Nothing tends in this respect so much 
to enlarge the mind as travelling, t. e. making a visit to 
other towns, cities, or countries, besides those in which 
we were born and educated : and where our condition, 
of life does not grant us this privilege, we must endeav- 
our to supply the want of it by books. 

(2.) It is the same narrowness of mind that awakens 
the surprise and aversion of some persons, when they 
hear of doctrines and schemes in human affairs, or in 
religion, quite different from what they have embraced. 
Perhaps they have been trained up from their infancy 
in one set of notions, and their thoughts have been con- 
fined to one single track both in the civil or religious life, 
without ever hearing or knowing what other opinions 
are current among mankind ; or at least they have seen 
all other notions besides their own represented in a false 
and malignant light, whereupon they judge and condemn 
at once every sentiment but what their own party re- 
ceives, and they think it a piece of justice and truth to 
lay heavy censures upon the practice of every different 
sect in Christianity or politics. They have so rooted 
themselves in the opinions of their party, that they can- 
not hear an objection with patience, nor can they bear 
a vindication, or so much as an apology, for any set of 
principles besides their own : all the rest is nonsense or 
heresy, folly or blasphemy. 

This defect also is to be relieved by free conversation 
with persons of different sentiments ; this will teach us 
to bear with patience a defence of opinions contrary to 
our own. If we are scholars, we should also read the 



130 OF ENLARGING THE 

objections against own own tenets, and view the princi- 
ples of other parties, as they are represented in their 
own authors, and not merely in the citations of those 
who would confute them. We should take an honest 
and unbiassed survey of the force of reasoning on all 
side*, and bnne - all to the test of unprejudiced reason 
and divine revelation. Note ; — this is not to be done in a 
rash ar>d self-sufficient manner, but with a humble de- 
pendence on divine wisdom and grace, while we walk 
among snares and dangers. 

By such a free converge with persons of different sects, 
especially those who differ only in particular forms of 
Christianity, but aeree in the great and necessary doc- 
trines of it, we shall find that there are persons of good 
sense and virtue, persons of piety and worth, persons of 
much candour and goodness, who belong to different 
parties, and have imbibed sentiments opposite to each 
other. This will soften the roughness of an^unpolished 
soul, and enlarge the avenues of our charity towards 
others, and incline us to receive thero into all the degrees 
of unity and affection, which the word of God requires. 

(3.) I might borrow further illustrations, both of this 
freedom and this aversion to receive new truths, 'from 
modern astronomy and natural philosophy. How much 
is the vulgar part of the world surprised, at the talk of 
the diurnal and annual revolutions of the earth ' They 
have ever been taught by their senses, and their neigh- 
bours, to imagine the earth stands fixed in the centre of 
the universe, and that the sun, with all the planets and 
the fixed stars, are whirled round this little globe once in 
twenty- four hours ; not considering that such a diurnal 
motion, by reason of the distance of some of those heav- 
enly bodies, must be almost infinitely swifter, and more 
inconceivable than any which the modern astronomers 
attribute to them. Tell these persons that the sun is 
fixed in the centre, that the earth, with all the planets, 
roll round the sun in their several periods, and that the 
moon rolls round the earth in a lesser circle, while, to- 
gether with the earth, she is carried round the sun ; they 
cannot admit a syllable of this new and strange doc- 
trine, and they pronounce it utterly contrary to all sense 
and reason - 

Acquaint them that there are four moons also perpet- 
ually rolling round the planet Jupiter, and carried along 
with him in his periodica] circuit round the sun, which 






CAPACITY OF THE MIND. 131 

little moons were never known till the year 1610, when 
Galileo discovered them by his telescope ;.infor m them, 
that Saturn has five moons of the same kind attending 
him ; and that the body of that planet is encompassed 
with a broad, fiat, circular ring, distant from the planet 
twenty-one thousand miles, and twenty-one thousand 
miles broad ; they look upon these things as .tales and 
fancies, and will tell you that the glasses do but delude 
your eyes with vast images; and even when they them- 
selves consult their own eye-sight in the use of these 
tubes, the narrowness of their minds is such, that they 
will scarcely believe their senses when they dictate 
ideas so new and strange. 

And if you proceed further, and attempt to lead 
them into a belief that all these planetary worlds are 
habitable, and it is probable tliey are replenished with 
intellectual beings dwelling in bodies, they will deride 
the folly of him ihat informs them ; for they resolve to 
believe there are no habitable worlds but this earth, 
and no spirits dwelling in bodies besides mankind ; and 
it is well if they do not fix the brand of heresy on the 
man, who is leading them out of their long imprison- 
ment, and loosing the fetters of their souls. 

There are many other things relating to mechanical 
experiments, and to the properties of the air, water, 
fire, iron, the loadstone, and other minerals and metals, 
as well as the doctrine of the sensible qualities, viz. 
colours, sounds, tastes, 8cc. which this rank of men 
cannot believe for want of a greater amplitude of mind. 
The best way to convince them, is by giving them, 
some acquaintance with the various experiments in phi- 
losophy, and proving by ocular demonstration the mul- 
tiform and amazing operations of the air pump, the 
loadstone, the chemical furnace, optical glasses, and 
mechanical engines By these means the understand- 
ing will stretch itself by degrees, and when they have 
found there are so many new and strange things that 
are most evidently true, they will not be so forward to 
condemn every new proposition in any ot the other sci- 
ences, or in the affairs of religion or civil life. 

III. -The capacity of the understanding includes yet 
another qualification in it, and that is, an ability to re- 
ceive many ideas at once without confusion. The am- 
ple mind takes a survey of several objects with one 
glance, keeps them all within sight, and present to the 



132 OF "ENLARGING THE 

soul, that they may be compared together in their mu* 
tual respects ; it forms just judgments, and it draws 
proper inferences from this, comparison, even to a great 
length of argument, and a chain of demonstrations. 

The narrowness that belongs to human souls in gen-r 
eral, is a great imperfection and impediment to wisdom 
and happiness. There are but few persons who can 
contemplate or practise several things at once ; our fac- 
ulties are very limited, and while we are intent upon one 
part or property of a subject, we have but a slight 
glimpse of the rest, or we lose it out of sight. But it is 
a sign of a large and capacious mind, if we can with one 
single view take in a variety of objects ; or at least when 
the mind can apply itself to several objects with so swift 
a succession, and in so few moments, as attains almost 
the same ends as if it were all done in the same instant. 
This is a necessary qualification in order to great 
knowledge and good judgment ; for there are several 
things in human life, in religion, and in the sciences, 
•which have various circumstances, appendices, and re- 
lations attending them j and without a survey of all those 
ideas which stand in connexion with, and relation to 
each other, we are often in danger of passing a false 
judgment on the subject proposed. It is for this reason 
there are so numerous controversies found among the 
learned and unlearned world in matters of religion, as 
well as in the affairs of civil government. The notions of 
sin and duty to God and our fellow creatures; of law, 
justice, authority, and power ; of covenant, faith, justi- 
fication, redemption, and grace; of church,bishop, pres- 
byter, ordination, &c. contain in them such complicated 
ideas, that when we are to judge of any thing concern- 
ing them, it is hard to take into our view at once all the 
attendants or consequents that must and will be con- 
cerned in the determination of a single question ; and 
yet, without a due attention to many, or most of these, 
we are in danger of determining that question amiss. 

It is owing to the narrowness of our minds, that we 
are exposed to the same peril in the matters of human 
duty and prudence. In many things which we do, we 
ought not only to consider the mere naked action itself, 
but the persons who act, the persons towards whom, the 
time when, the place where, the manner how, the end 
for which the action is done, together with the effects 
that must,, or that mav follow? and all other surrounding 



CAPACITY" OF THE MIND. 133 

circumstances : these things must necessarily be taken 
into our view, in order to determine whether the ac- 
tion, which is indifferent in its-It, be either lawful or 
unlawful, good or evil, wise or foolish, decent or ii.de- 
cent, proper or improper, as it is so circumstantiated. 

Let me give a plain instance for the illustration of this 
matter. Mario kills a dog, w hich, considered merely in 
itself, s ems to be an indiffere ; t action ; now the flog 
was Timon's, and not his own ; this makes it look un- 
lawful. But Timon bid him do it ; this gives it an ap- 
pearance of lawfulness again. It was done at church ; 
and in time of divine service ; these circumstances ad- 
ded, cast on it an air of irreligion. But the dog flew at 
Mario, and put him in danger of his life ; this relieves 
the seeming impiety of the action. Yet Mario might 
have escaped by fly ng thence ; therefore the action 
appears to be improper. But the dog was known to be 
mad ; this further circumstance makes it almost ne- 
cessary that the dog should be slain, lest he might wor- 
ry the assembly, and do much mischief. Yet again, 
Mario killed him with a pistoi, which he happened to 
have fin his pocket since yesterday's journey; now 
hereby the whole congregation was terrified and dis- 
composed, and divine service was broken off: this car- 
ries an ap; earance of great indecency and impropriety 
in it : but after all, when we consider a further circum- 
stance, that Mario, being thus violently assaulted by a 
mad dog, had no way of escape, and had no other wea- 
pon about him, it seems to take away all the colours of 
impropriety, indecency, or unlawfulness, and to kilo* 
that the preservation of one or many lives wili justify 
the act as wise and good. Now all these concurrent 
appendices of the action ought to be surve} ed, in order 
to pronounce with justice and truth concerning it. 
, v 1 here ure a mulf itude of human actions in private 
hfe. in domeNtic affairs, in traffic, in civil government, 
in courts of justice, in schools of learning, &c which 
nave so many complicated circumstances, aspects, and 
situations, with regard to time and place, persons and 
things; that it is impossible for any one to pass a right 
judgment concerning them, without entering into most 
ot these circumstances, and surveying them extensive- 
ly, and comparing and balancing them all aright. 

Whence, bv the way, I nmy take occasion to say, 
tiow many thousands are there who take upon them to 
M 



134 OF ENLARGING THE 

pass their censures on the personal ahd the domestic 
actions of others, who pronounce boldly on the affairs 
of the public, and determine the justice or madness, the 
wisdom or folly of national administrations, of peace and 
war, &c. whom neither God nor men ever qualified for 
such a post of judgment ? They were not capable of 
entering into the numerous concurring springs of action, 
nor had they ever taken a survey of the twentieth part 
of the circumstances, which were necessary for such 
judgments or censures. 

It is the narrowness of our minds, as well as the vices 
of the will, that oftentimes prevents us from taking a 
full view of all the complicated and concurring appendi- 
ces that belong to human actions : thence it comes to 
pass, that there is so little right judgment, so little jus- 
tice, prudence, or decency, practised among the bulk of 
mankind ; thence arise infinite reproaches and censures, 
alike f dish and unrighteous. You see, therefore, how 
needful and happy a thing it is to be possessed of some 
measure of this enlargement of soul, in order to make us 
very wise, or knowing, or just, or prudent, or happy. 

I confess this sort of amplitude or capacity of mind is 
in a great measure the gift of nature, for some are born 
with much more capacious souls than others. 

The genius of some persons is so poor and limited, that 
they can hardly take in the connexion of two or three 
propositions, unless it be in matters of sense, and which 
they have learned by experience ; they are utterly unfit 
for speculative studies ; it is hard for them to discern the 
difference betwixt right and wrong in matters of reason, 
on any abstracted subjects ; these ought never to set up 
for scholars, but apply themselves to those arts and 
professions of life which are to be learned at an easier 
rate, by stow degrees, and daily experience. 

Others have a soul a little more capacious, and they 
can take in the connexion of a few propositions pretty 
well ; but if the chain of consequences be a little prolix, 
here they stick and are confounded. If persons of this 
make, ever devote themselves to science, th< y should be 
well assured of a solid and strong constitution of body, 
and well resolved to bear the fatigue of hard labour and 
diligence in study. If the iron be blunt, king Solomon 
tehs us, we must exert more strength. 

But, in the third place, there are some of so bright 
and happy a genius, and so ample a mind, that they can 



CAPACITY OF THE MIND. 135 

take in a long train of propositions, if not at once, yet in 
a very few moments, and judge well concerning the de- 
pendence of them. They can survey a variety of com- 
plicated ideas without fatigue or disturbance ; and a 
number of truths offering themselves as it were in one 
view to their understanding doth not perplex or con- 
found them. This makes a great man. 

Now, though there may be much owing to nature in 
this case, yet experience assures us, that even a lower 
degree of this capacity and extent of thought, may be 
increased by diligence and application, by frequent ex- 
ercise, and the observation of such rules as these : 

I. Labour by all means to gain an Httentive and pa- 
tient temper of mind, a power of confining and fixing 
your thoughts so long on any one appointed subject, till 
you have surveyed it on every side and in every situa- 
tion, and run through the several pcwers, parts, pro- 
perties and relations, effects and consequences of it, 
He whose thoughts are very fluttering and wandering, 
and cannot be fixed attentively to a few ideas succes- 
sively, will never be able to survev m^ny and various 
objects distinctly at once, but wili certainly be ver- 
whelmed and confounded with the multiplicity of them. 
The rules for fixing the attention in the former chapter 
are proper to be consulted here. 

II. Accustom yourself to clear aid distinct ideas in 
every thing you think of. Be not satisfied with obscure 
and confused conceptions of things, especially where 
clearer may be obtained ; for one obscure or confused 
idea, especially if it be of great importance in the ques- 
tion, intermingled with many clear ones, and placed in 
its variety of aspects towards them, will be in danger of 
spreading confusion over the whole scene of ideas, and 
thus mav have an unhappy influence to overwhelm the 
understanding with darkness, and pervert the judgment. 
A little black paint will shamefully tincture and spoil 
twenty gay colours. 

Consider yet further, that if you content yourself fre- 
quently with words instead of r'eas, or with cloudy and 
confused notions of things, how impenetrable will that 
darkness be, and how vast and endless that confusion, 
which must surround and involve the understanding, 
when many of these obscure and confused ideas come to 
be set before the soul at once ? And how impossible will 
it be to form a clear and just judgment about them ? 



136 OF ENLARGING THE 

III. Use all diligence to acquire and treasure up a 
large store of ideas and notions; take every opportuni- 
ty to add something to your stock, and bv frequent rec- 
ollection fix them m your memory ; nothing tends to 
confirm and enlarge the memory like a frequent-review 
of its possessions. Then the brain being welt fur ished 
with various traces, signatures, and images, will have 
a rich treasure always ready to be proposed, or ffer- 
ed to the soul, when it directs its thought towards any 
particular subject. This will gradually give the mind 
a faculty of surveying many objects at once ; as a rnom 
that is richly adorned and hung round with a great va- 
riety of pictures strikes the eye almost at once with all 
that variety, especially if they have been wel surveyed 
one by one at fir >t ; this makes it habitual and more 
easy to the inhabitants to take in many of those painted 
scenes with a single glance or two. 

Here note, that by acquiring a rich treasure of no- 
tions, I do not mean only sing' ! e ideas, but also propnsi- 
tions, observations, and experiences, with reasonings 
and arguments upon the various subjects that occur 
among natural and moral, common or sacred affairs ; 
that when you are called to judge concerning any ques- 
tion, you will have some principles of truth, some useful 
axioms and observations, always ready at hand to di- 
rect and assist your judgment. 

IV. It is necessary that we should as far as possible 
entertain and lay up our daily new ideas in a regular 
order, and range the acquisitions of our souls under pro- 
per heads, whether of divinity, law, physics, mathemat- 
ics, morality, politics, trade, domestic life, civility, de- 
cency, &c. whether of cause, effect, substance, mode, 
power, property, body, spirit. &c. We should inure 
our minds to method and. order continually ; and when 
we take in any fresh ideas, occurrences, and observa- 
tions, we should dispose of them in their proper places, 
and see how they stand and agree with the rest of our 
notions on the same subjects; as a scholar would dispose 
of a new book on a proper shelf among its kindred au- 
thors ; or as an officer at the post house in London dis- 
poses of every letter he takes in, placing it in the box 
that belongs to the proper road or county. 

In any of these cases, if things lay all in a heap, the 
addition of any new object would increase the confusion; 
but method gi\ r es a speedy and short survey of them 



CAPACITY OF THE MIND. 137 

with ease and pleasure. Method is of admirable ad- 
vantage to keep our ideas from a confused mixture, and 
to preserve them ready for every use. The science of 
onthology, which distributes all beings, and all the affec- 
tions of being, whether absolute or relative, under pro- 
per classes, is of good service to keep our intellectual 
acquisitions in such order as that the mind may survey 
them at once. 

V. As method is necessary for the improvement of 
the mind, in order to make your treasure of ideas most 
useful ; so in all your further put suits of truth, and ac- 
quirements of rational knowledge, observe a regular 
progressive method. Begin with the most simple, easy, 
and obvious ideas ; then by degrees join two, and three, 
and more of them together ; thus the complicated ideas 
growing up under your eye and observation, will not 
give the same confusion of thought as they would do if 
they were all offered to the mind at once, without your 
observing the original and formation of them. 

An eminent example of this appears in the study of 
arithmetic. If a scholar just admitted into the school 
observes his master performing an operation in the rule 
of division, his head is at once disturbed and confounded 
with the manifold comparisons of the numbers of the 
divisor and dividend, and the multiplication of the one 
and subtraction of it from the other ; but if he begin 
regularly at addition, and so proceed by subtraction and 
multiplication, he will then in a few weeks be able to 
take in an intelligent survey of all those operations in 
division, and to practise them himself with ease and 
pleasure, each of which at first seemed all intricacy 
and confusion. 

An illustration of the like nature may be borrowed 
from geometry and algebra, and other mathematical 
practices. How easily does an expert geometrician, 
with one glance of his eye, take in a complicated dia- 
gram, made up of many lines and circles, angles and 
arches ? How readily does he judge of it, whether the 
demonstration designed by it be true or false ? It was 
by degrees he arrived at this stretch of understanding; 
he began with a single line or a point ; he joined two 
lines in an angle ; he advanced to triangles and squares, 
polygons and circles; thus the powers of his understand- 
ing were stretched and augmented daily, till by dili- 
M2 



138 OF ENXARSING THE CAPACITY, &C. 

gence and regular application, he acquired this exten- 
sive faculty of mind. 

But this advantage does not belong only to mathe- 
matical learning. If we apply ourselves at first in any 
science to clear and single ideas, and never hurry our- 
selves on to the following and more complicated parts 
of knowledge, till we thoroughly understand the fore- 
going, we may practise the same method of enlarging 
the capacity of the soul with success in any one of the 
sciences, or in the affairs of life and religion. 

Beginning with A, B, C, and making syllables cut of 
letters, and words out of syllables, has been the founda- 
tion of all that glorious superstructure of arts and scien- 
ces, which h»ve enrich- d the minds and libraries of the 
learned world in several ages. These are the first steps 
by which the ample and capacious souis among man- 
kind have arrived at that prodigious extent of knowl- 
edge, which renders them the wonder and glory of the 
nation where they live. Though Plato and Cicero, 
Descartes and Mr. Boyle, Mr. Locke and Sir Isaac 
Newton, were duubtless favoured by nature with a gen- 
ius of uncommon amplitude, yet, in their early years 
and first attempts of science, this was but limited and 
narrow, in comparison of what they attained at last, 
But how vast and capacious were those powers which 
they afterwards acquired by patient attention and 
watchful observation, by the pursuit of clear ideas, and 
a regular method of thinking ! 

VI. Another means of acquiring this amplitude and 
capacity of mind, is a perusal of difficult, entangled 
questions, and of the solution of them in any science. 
Speculative and casuistical divinity will furnish us with 
many such cases and controversies. There are some 
such difficulties in reconciling several parts of the Epis- 
tles of St. Paul, relating to the Jewish law and the 
Christian gospel; a happy solution whereof will re- 
quire such an extensive view of things, and the read- 
ing of these happy solutions will enlarge this faculty in 
younger students. 

In moral and political subjects, Puffendorf's Law of ^ 
Na cure and Nations,and several determinations therein, 
wi.l promote the same amplitude of mind. An attend- 
ance on public trials and arguments in the civil courtsr 
of justice, will be of good advantage for this purpose; 
and after a man has studied the general principles of 



OF IMPROVTNG THE MEMORY. 139 

the law of nature and the laws of England in proper 
books, the reading the rep orts of adjudged cases, col- 
lected by men of great sagacity and judgment, will 
richly improve his mind towards acquiring this desire- 
able amplitude and extent of thought, and more espe- 
cially in persons of that profession. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Of Improving the Memory. > 

MEMORY is a distinct faculty of the mind of man, 
very different from perception, judgment, and rea- 
soning, and its other powers. Then we are said to re- 
member any thing, when the idea of it arises in the 
mind with a consciousness at the same time that we 
have had this idea before. Our memory is our natur- 
al power of retaining what we learn, and of recalling 
it on every occasion Therefore we can never be said 
to remember any thing, whether it be ideas or propo- 
sitions, words or things, notions or arguments, of which 
we have not had some former idea or perception, either 
by sense or imagination, thought or reflection; but what- 
soever we learn from observation, books, or conver- 
sation, 8cc. it must all be laid up and preserved in the 
memory, if we would make it really useful. 

So necessary and so excellent a faculty is the mem- 
ory of man, that all other abilities of the mind borrow 
f r m hence th^ir beauty and perfection ; for the other 
capacities of the soul are almost useless without this. 
To what purpose are all our labours in knowledge and 
wisdom, if we want memory to preserve and use what 
we have acquired? What signify all other intellectual 
or spiritual improvements, -if they are lost as soon as 
they are obtained ? It is memory alone that enriches 
the minr*, by preserving what our labour and industry 
daily collect. In a word, there can be neither knowl- 
edge, nor arts, nor sciences, without memory ; nor can 
there be any improvement of mankind in virtue or 
morals, or the practice of religion, without the assist- 
ance and influence of this power- Without memory, 
the soul of man would be but a poor, destitute, naked 
beins, with an everiastmg blank spread over it, except 
the fleeting ideas of the present moment. 



140 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORV. 

Memory is very useful to those who speak, as well 
as to those who learn. It assists the teacher and the 
orator, as well as the scholar or the hearer. The best 
speeches and instructions are almost lost, if those who 
hear them immediately forget them. And those who 
are called to speak in public are much better heard 
and accepted, when they can deliver their discourse 
by the help of a lively genius and a ready memory, 
than when they are forced to read all that they would 
communicate to their hearers. Reading is certainly a 
heavier way of the conveyance of our sentiments ; and 
there are very few mere readers who have the felicity 
of penetrating the soul, and awakening the passions of 
those who hear, by such a grace and power of oratory, 
as the man who seems to talk every word from his 
very heart, and pours out the 1 riches of his own knowl- 
edge upon the people round about him by the help of 
a free and copious memory. This gives life and spirit 
to every thing that is spoken, and has a natural ten- 
dency to make a deeper impression on the minds of 
men; it awakens the dullest spirits, causes them to 
receive a discourse with more affection and pleasure, 
and adds a singular grace and excellency both to the 
person and his oration. 

A good judgment and a good memory are very dif- 
ferent qualifications. A person may have a very strong, 
capacious and retentive memory, where the judgment 
is very poor and weak ; as sometimes it happens in 
those who are but one degree above an ideot, who 
have manifested an amazing strength and extent of 
memory, but have hardly been able to join or disjoin 
two or three ideas in a wise and happy manner, to 
make a solid, rational proposition. 

There have been instances of others who have had 
but a very tolerable power of memory, yet their judg- 
ment has been of a much superior degree, just and 
wise, solid and excellent. 

Yet it must be acknowledged, that where a happy 
memory is found in any person, there is one good foun- 
dation laid for a wise and just judgment of things, 
wheresoever the natural genius has any thing of sagac- 
ity and brightness to make a right use of it. A good 
judgment must always in some measure depend upon 
a survey and comparison of several things together in 
the mind, and determining the truth of some doubtful 



©F IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 141 

proposition by that survey and comparison. When the 
mind his, as it were, set all those various objects pres- 
ent before it, which are necessary to form a true prop- 
osition or judgment concerning-any thing, it then deter- 
mines that such and such ideas are to be joined or 
disjoined, to be affirmed or denied, and this in a con- 
sistency and correspondence with all those ether ideas 
and propositions which in any way relate or belong to 
the same subject. Now there can be no such compre- 
hensive survey of many things without a tolerable de- 
gree of memory ; it is by reviewing things past we 
learn to judge of the future ; and it happens sometimes 
that if one needful or important object or idea be ab- 
sent, the judgment concerning the thing inquired will 
thereby become false or mistaken. 

You will enquire then, how comes it to pass that 
there are some persons who appear in the world of 
business, as well as in the world of learning, to have a 
good judgment, and have acquired the just character 
of prudence and wisdom, and yet have neither a very 
bright genius or sagacity of thought, nor a very happy 
memory, so that they cannot set before their minds at 
once a large scene of ideas in order to pass a judgment? 

Now we may learn from Penseroso some accounts 
of this difficulty. You shall scarcely ever find this man 
forward in judging and determining things proposed 
to him; bufhe always takes time, and delays, and sus- 
pends, and ponders things maturely, before he passes 
his judgment^ then he practices a slow meditation, 
ruminates on the subject, and thus perhaps in two or 
three nights and days rouses and awakens those seve- 
ral ideas, one after another as he can, which are ne- 
cessary in order to judge aright of the thing proposed, 
and makes them pass before his review in succession : 
this he doth to relieve the want both of a quick saga- 
city of thought, and of a ready memory and speedy 
recollection ; and this caution and practice lays the 
foundation of his just judgmt nt and wise conduct. He 
surveys weli before he judges. 

Whence I cannot but take occasion to infer one good 
rule of advice to persons of higher as well as lower 
genius, and of large as well as narrow memories, viz. 
That they do not too hastily pronounce concerning 
matters of doubt or inquiry, where there is not an ur- 
gent necessity of present action. The bright genius is 



142 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 

ready to be so forward as often betravs itself into great 
errors in judgment, speech, and conduct, without a 
continual guard upon itself, and using the bridle of the 
tongue. And it is by this delay and precaution, that 
many a person of much lower natural abilities shall 
often excel persons of the brightest genius in wisdom 
and prudence. 

It is often found that a fine genius has but a feeble 
memory: for where the genius is bright, and the 
imagination vivid, the power of memory may be too 
much neglected, and lose its improvement. An active 
fancy readily wanders over a multitude of objects, and 
is continually entertaining itself with new flying images; 
it runs through a number of new scenes or new pages 
■with pleasure, but without due attention, and seldom 
suffers itself to dwell long enough npon any one of them, 
to make a deep impression thereof upon the mind, and 
commit it to lasting remembrance. This is one plain 
and obvious reason why there are some persons of very 
bright parts and active spirits, who have but short and 
narrow powers of remembrance; for, having riches 
of their own, they are not solicitous to borrow. 

And, as such a quick and various fancy and inven- 
tion may be some hindrance to the attention and mem- 
ory, so a mind of a good retentive ability, and which 
is ever crowding its memory with things which it learns 
and reads continually, may prevent, restrain, and 
cramp the invention itself. The memory of Lectorides 
is ever ready, upon all occasions, to offer to his mind 
something out of other men's writings or conversations, 
and is presenting him with the thoughts of other per- 
sons perpetually ; thus the man who had naturally a 
good flowing invention, does not suffer himself to pur- 
sue his own thoughts. Some persons who have been 
blest by nature with sagacity, and no contemptible gen- 
ius, have too often forbid the exercise of it, by tying 
themselves down to the memory of the volumes they 
have read, and the sentiments of other men contained 
in them. 

Where the memory has been almost constantly em- 
ploying itself in scraping together new acquirements.and 
where there has not been a judgment sufficient to dis- 
tinguish what things were fit to be recommended and 
treasured up in the memorv, and what things were 
idle, useless, or needless, the mind has been filled with 



QF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 143 

a wretched and useless collection of words or ideas* 
and the soul may be said to have had large possessions, 
but no true riches. 

I have read in some of Milton's writings a verjr 
beautitul simile, whereby he represents the books of 
the Fathers, as they are called in the Christian church. 
Whatsoever, saith he, Old rime, with his huge drag 
net has conveyed down to us along the stream of ages, 
whether it be shells or shell fish, jewels or pebbles, 
sticks or straws, sea weeds or mud, these are the an- 
cients, these are the fathers. The case is much the 
same with the memorial possessions of the greatest 
part of mankind. A few useful things, perhaps,* mix- 
ed and confounded with many trifles, and all manner 
of rubbish, fill up their memories and compose their 
intellectual possessions. It is a great happiness there- 
fore to distinguish things aright, and to lay up nothing 
in the memory but what has some just value in it, and 
is worthy to be numbered as a part of our treasure. 

Whatsoever improvements arise to the mind of man 
from the wise exercise of his own reasoning powers, 
these may be called his proper manufactures; and 
whatsoever he borrows from abroad, these may be 
termed his foreign treasures: both together make 
a weaithy and a happy mind. 

How many excellent judgments and reasonings are 
framed in the mind of a man of wisdom and study in a 
length of years? How many worthy and admirable 
notions has he been possessed of in life, both by his own 
reasonings, and by his prudent and laborious collec- 
tions in the course of his reading ? But, alas ! how ma- 
ny thousands of them vanish away again and are lost 
in empty air, for want of a stronger and more reten- 
tive memory ? When a young practitioner in the law 
was once said to contest a point of debate with that 
great lawyer in the last age, Sergeant Maynard, he is 
reported to have answered him, Alas ! young man, I 
have forgot much more law than ever thou hast learnt 
or read. ' 

What an unknown and unspeakable happiness would 
it be to a man of judgment, and who is engaged in the 
pursuit of knowledge, if he had but a power of stamp- 
ing all his own best sentiments upon his memory in 
some indelible characters ; and if he could but imprint 
every valuable paragraph and sentiment of the most 



144 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY* 

excellent authors he has read upon his mind, with the 
same speed and facility with which he read them ? If 
a man of good genius and sagacity could but retain and 
survey all those numerous, those wise and beautiful 
ideas at once, which have ever passed through his 
thoughts upon anyone subject, how admirably would 
he be furnished to pass a just judgment about all pres- 
ent objects and occurrences ? What a glorious enter- 
tainment and pleasure would fill and felicitate his spir- 
it, if he could grasp all these in a single survey ; as the 
skilful eye of a painter runs over a fine and compli- 
cate piece of history, wrought by the hand of a Titian 
or a Raphael, views the whole scene at once, and feeds 
himself with the extensive delight ! But these are joys 
that do not belong to mortality. 

Thus far I have indulged some loose and unconnect- 
ed thoughts and remarks with regard to the different 
powers of wit, memory, and judgment ; for it was very 
difficult to throw them into a regular form or method 
without more room. Let us now with more regularity 
treat of the memory alone. 

Though the memory be a natural faculty of the 
mind of man, and belongs to spirits which are not in- 
carnate, yet it is greatly assisted or hindered, and much 
diversified by the brain or the animal nature, to which 
the soul is united in this present state. But what part 
of the brain that is, wherein the images of things lie 
treasured up, is very hard for us to determine with 
certainty. It is most probable that those very fibres, 
pores, or traces of the brain, which assist at the first 
ide^ or perception of any object, are the same which 
assist also at the recollection of it ; and then it will fol- 
low that th" memory has no special part of the brain 
devoted to its own service, but uses all those parts in 
general which subserve our sensations, as well as our 
thinking and reasc ing powers. 

As the memory grows and improves in young per- 
sons from their childhood, and decays in old age, so it 
may be increased by art and labour, and proper exer- 
cise ; or it may be injured and quite spoiled by sloth, or 
by a disease, or a stroke on the head. There are some 
reasonings on this subject, which make it evident, that 
the goodness of a memory depends in a great degree 
upon the consistence and the temperature of that 



OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 145 

part of the brain which, is appointed to assist the ex- 
ercise of ali our sensible and intellectual faculties. 

So for instance, in children ; they perceive and for- 
get a hundred tilings in an hour ; the brain is so soft 
that it receives immediately all impressions like water 
or liquid mud, and retains scarcely any of them ; all the 
traces, forms, or images which are drawn there, are 
immediately effaced or closed up again, as though you 
wrote with your finger on the surface of a river, or on 
a vessel of oil. 

On the contrary, in old age, men have a very feeble 
remembrance of things that were done of late ; i. e. 
the same day, or week, or year ; the brain is grown so 
hard, that the present images or strokes make little or 
no impression, and therefore they immediately vanish : 
Prisco, in his seventy-eighth year, will tell long stories 
of things done when he was in the battle at the Boyne, 
almost fifty years ago, and when he studied at Oxford, 
seven years before ; for those impressions were made 
when the brain was more susceptive of them ; they 
have been deeply engraven at the proper season, and 
therefore they remain. But words or things which he 
lately spoke or did, they are immediately forgotten, 
because the brain is now grown more dry and solid in 
its consistence, and receives not much more impres- 
sion than if you wrote with your finger on a floor of 
clay, or a plastered wall. 

But in the middle stage of life, or it may be from fif- 
teen to fifty years of age, the memory is generally in 
its happiest state ; the brain easily receives and long 
retains the images and traces which are impressed up- 
on it ; and the natural spirits are more active to range 
these little infinite unknown figures of things in their 
proper cells or cavities, to preserve and recollect them. 

Whatsoever therefore keeps the brain in its best 
temper and consistence may be a help to preserve the 
memory ; but excess of wine, or luxury ot any kind, as 
well as excess in the studies of learning or the busines- 
ses of life, may overwhelm. the memory, by overstrain- 
ing and weakening the fibres of the brain, overwasting 
the spirits^ injuring the true consistence of that tender 
substance,' and confounding the images that are laid 
up there. 

A good memory has these several qualifications: (1.) 
It is ready to receive and admit with great ease the va- 
N 



146 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 

rious ideas both o> words and things which are learned 
or taught. (2 ) It is large and copious to treasure up 
these ideas in great number and variety. (3.) It is 
strong and durable to retain for a considerable tiw.e 
those wor:^- or thoughts, which are committed to it, 
(4.) It is laithful and active to suggest and recollect, 
upon every proper occasion, all those words or thoughts 
"which have been recommended to its care, or treas- 
ured up in it. 

Now in every one of these qualifications, a memory 
may be injured, or may be improved ; yet I shall not 
insist distinctly on these particulars, but only in gene- 
ral propose a few rules or directions, whereby this no- 
ble faculty of memory, in all its branches, and qualifi- 
cations, may be preserved or assisted, and show what 
are thr practices that both by reason and experience 
have been found of happy influence to this purpose. 

There is one great and general direction which be- 
longs to the improvement of other powers as well as 
of the memory, and that is, to keep it always in due 
and proper exercise. Many acts by degrees form a 
habit, and thereby the ability or power is strengthened 
and made more ready, and appear again in action. Our 
memories should be used and inured from childhood to 
bear a moderate quantity of knowledge k t into them 
early, and they w>ll thereby become strong for use and 
service. As any limb wed and duly exercised, grows 
stronger, the nerves of the body are corroborated there- 
by. Milo took up a calf, and daily carried it on his 
shoulders; as the calf g'ew, his strength grew also, 
and he at last arrived at firmness of joints enough to 
bear the bull 

Our memories will be in a great measure moulded 
and formed, improved or injured, according to the ex- 
ercise of them. If we never use them, they will be al- 
most iost. Those whr are wont to converse or re :d 
about a few t ings only, will retain but a few in their 
memory. Those who are used to remember thi-gs 
but for an hour, and charge their memories with it no 
longer, will retain them but an hour before thev vanish. 
And let words be remembered as well as things, that 
you so may acquire a cofii verborum, as well as rerum, 
and be more ready to express your mind on all occa- 
sions. 
Yet there should be a caution given in some cases ; 



OP IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 147 

the memory of a 1 child, or any infirm person, should 
not he overburdened ; tor a limb or a joint may be 
overstrained by being t^o much loaded, and its natural 
power never be recovered. Teachers should wisely 
judge of the power and constitution of youth, and im- 
pose no more tin them than they are able to bear with, 
cheerfulness and improvement. 

And particularly they should take care that the 
memory of the learner be not too much crowded with 
a tumultuous heap or overbearing multitude of docu- 
ments or ide.is at one time ; this is the way to remem- 
ber nothing ; one idea effaces another. An overgree- 
dy grasp '!oes not retain the largest handful But it is 
the exercise of memory witti a due moderation, that is 
one general rule towards the improvement of it. 

The particular rules are such as these : 

1. Due attention and diligence to learn and know- 
things which we would commit to our remembrance, 
is a rule of great necessity in this case. When the at- 
tention is strongly fixed to any particular subject, all 
that is said concerning it makes a deeper impression 
upon the mind. \ There are some persons who com- 
plain they cannot remember divine or human discours- 
es which they hear, when in truth their thoughts are 
wandering half the time, or they hear with such cold- 
ness and indifference, and a trifling temper of spirit, that 
it is no wonder the things which are read or spoken 
make, but a slight impression on the brain, and get no 
firm footing in the seat of memory, but soon vanish 
and are lost. 

It is needful . therefore, if we would retain a long re- 
membrance of the things which we read or hear, that 
we should engage our delight and pleasure in those 
subjects, and use the other methods which are before 
prescribed, in order to fix the attention. Sloth, indo- 
lence, and idleness, will no more bless the mind with 
intellectual riches, than they will fill the hand with 
gain, the field with corn, or the purse with treasure. 

Let it be added also, that not only the slothful and 
the negligent deprive themselves of proper knowledge 
for the furniture of their memory, but such as appear 
to have active spirits, who are ever skimming over the 
surface of things with a volatile temper, will fix noth- 
ing in their mind. Vario will spen<l whole mornings 
in running oyer loose and unconnected pages, and with 



148 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 

fresh curiosity is ever glancing over new words and 
ideas that strike his present fancy; he is fluttering 
over a thousand objects of arts and science, and yet 
treasures up but little knowledge. There must be the 
labour and the diligence of close attention to particular 
subjects of thought. and inquiry, which only can im- 
press what we read or think, upon the remembering 
faculty of man. 

2. Clear and distinct apprehension of the things 
which we commit to memory is necessary, in order to 
make them rest and dwell there. If we wpuld re- 
member words, or learn the names of persons or things, 
we should have them recommended to our memory, 
by a clear and distinct pronunciation, spelling, or writ- 
ing. If we would treasure up the ideas of things, no- 
tions, propositions, arguments, and sciences, these 
should be recommended also to our memory, by a clear 
and distinct perception of them. Faint, glimmering, 
and confused ideas will vanish like images seen in twi- 
light. Every thing which we learn should be convey- 
ed to the understanding in the plainest expressions, 
without any ambiguity, that we may not mistake what 
we desire to remember. This is a general rule, wheth- 
er we would employ the memory about words or 
things, though it must be confessed, that mere sounds 
and words are much harder to get by heart than the 
knowledge of things and real images. 

For this reason, take heed, (as I have often before 
warned) that you do not take up with words instead 
of things, nor mere sounds instead of real sentiments 
and ideas. Many a lad forgets what has been taught 
him, merely because he never well understood it ; he 
never clearly and distinctly took in the meaning of 
those sounds and syllables which he was required to 
get by heart. 

This is one true reason why boys make so poor a 
proficiencv in learning the Latin tongue, under mas- 
ters who teach them by grammars and rules written 
in Latin, of which I have spoken before. And this is 
a common case with children, when thev learn their 
catechisms in their early days. The language and the 
sentiments conveyed in those catechisms are far above 
the understanding of youth of that age, and they have 
no tolerable ideas under the words. This makes the 
answers much harder to be remembered, and in truth 



OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 149 

they learn nothing but words without ideas; and if 
they are ever so perfect in repeating the words, yet 
they know nothing of divinity. 

And for this reason it is a necessary rule in teach- 
ing children the principles of religion, that they should 
be expressed in very plain, easy, and familiar words, 
brought as low as possible down to their understand- 
ings, according to their different ages and capacities ; 
and thereby they will obtain some useful knowledge 
when the words are treasured up in their memory, be- 
cause at the same time they will treasure up those 
divine ideas too. 

3. Method and regularity in the things we commit 
to memory, is necessary in order to make them take 
more effectual possession of the mind, and abide there 
long. As much as systematical learning is descried by 
some vain and humorous triflers of the age, it is cer- 
tainly the happiest way to furnish the mind with a va- 
riety of knowledge. 

Whatsoever you would trust to your memory, let it 
be disposed in a proper method', connected well to- 
gether, and referred to distinct and particular heads 
or classes, both general and particular. An apothe- 
cary's boy will much sooner learn all the medicines in 
his master's shop, when they are ranged in boxes or on 
shelves according to their distinct natures, whether 
herbs, drugs, or minerals, whether leaves or roots, 
whether chemical or Galenical preparations, whether 
simple or compound, &c. and when they are placed in 
some order according to their nature, their fluidity, or 
thejr consistence, &c. in phials, bottles, gallipots, cas- 
es, drawers, &c. So the genealogv of a family is more 
easily learnt when you begin at some greatgrandfather 
as the root, and distinguish the sock, the large boughs, 
the lesser branches, twigs, and the buds, till you come 
down to the present infants of the house. And indeed 
all sorts of arts and sciences, taught in a method some- 
thing of this kind, are more happily committed to the 
mi id or memory. 

I might give another plain simile to confirm the 
truth of this What horse or carriage can take up and 
bear away all the various, rude, and unwieldy loppings 
of a branchv tree at once ? But if they are divided yet 
further, so as to be laid close, and bound up in a more 
uniform manner into several faggots, perhaps those 
N 2 



150 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 

loppings may be all carried at one single load or bur- 
den. 

The mutual dependence of things on each other helps 
the memory of both. A wise connexion of the parts of 
a discourse in a rational method gives great advan- 
tage to the reader or hearer in order to his remem- 
brance of it. Therefore many mathematical demon- 
strations in a long train, may * be remembered much 
better than a heap of sentences which have no connex- 
ion. The book of Proverbs, at least from the tenth 
Chapter and onwards, is much harder to remember 
than the book of Psalms, for this reason ; and some 
Christians have told me that they remember what is 
written in the Epistle to the Romans, and that to the 
Hebrews, much better than many others of the sacred 
epistles, because there is more exact method and con- 
nexion observed in them. 

He that would learn to remember a sermon which he 
hears, should acquaint himself by degrees with the 
method in which the several important parts of it are 
delivered. It is a certain fault in a multitude of preach- 
ers that they utterly neglect method in their ha- 
rangues ; or at least they refuse to render their meth- 
od visible and sensible to the hearers. One would be 
tempted to think it was for fear lest their auditors should 
remember too much of their sermons, and prevent 
their preaching them three or four times over ; but I 
have candour enough to persuade myself, that the true 
reason is, they imagine it to be a more modish way of 
preaching without particulars : I am sure it is a much 
more useless one. And it would be of great advantage 
both to the speaker and hearer, to have discourses tor 
the pulpit c^st into a plain and easy method, and the 
reasons or inferences ranged in a proper order, and 
that under the words,./?r«;, secondly, and thirdly, how- 
ever they may be now fancied to sound unpolite or un- 
fashionable ; but Archbishop Tillotson did not tfcink so 
in his days. 

4. A frequent review and careful repetition of the 
things we would learn, and an abridgment of them 
in a narrow compass for this end, has a great influence 
to fix them in the memory ; therefore it is that the 
rules of grammar, and useful examples of the variation 
of words, and the peculiar forms of speech in any lan- 
guage, are so often appointed by the masters as lessons 



OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 151 

for the scholars, to be frequently repeated ; and they 
are contracted into tables for frequent review, that 
what is not fixed in the mind at first, may be stamped 
upon the memory by a perpetual survey and rehearsal. 

Repetition is so very useful a practice, that Mnemon, 
even from his youth to his old age, never read a book 
without making some small points, dashes, or hooks, in 
the margin, to mark what parts of the discourse were 
proper for a review : and when he came to the end of 
a section or chapter, he always shut his book, and 
recollected all the sentiments or expressions he had 
remarked, so that he could give a tolerable analysis 
and abstract of every treatise he had read, just after 
he had finished it. Thence he became so well furnish- 
ed with a rich variety of knowledge. 

Even when a person is a hearing a sermon or a lec- 
ture, he may give his thoughts leave now and then to 
step back so far as to recollect the several heads of it 
from the beginning, two or three times before the lec- 
ture or sermon is finished ; the omission or the loss of a 
sentence or two among the amplifications, is richlv 
compensated by preserving in the mind the method 
and order of the whole discourse in the most import- 
ant branches of it. 

If we would fix in the memory the discourses we 
hear, or what we design to speak, let us abstract them 
into brief compends, and review them often, Lawyers 
and divines have need of such assistances : they write 
down short notes or hints of the principal heads of 
what they desire to commit to their memory, in order 
to preach or plead ; for such abstracts and epitomes 
may be reviewed much sooner, and the several am- 
plifying sentiments or sentences will be more easily 
invented or recollected in their proper places. The 
art of short hand is of excellent use for this as wpII as 
for other purposes. It must be acknowledged, that 
those who scarcely ever take a pen in their hand to 
write short notes or hints of what they are to speak or 
learn, who never try to cast things into method, or to 
contract the survey of them in order to commit them 
to their memory, had need have a double degree of 
that natural power of retaining and recollecting what 
they read or hear, or intend to speak. 

Do not plunge yourself into other businesses or stu- 
dies, amusements or recreations, immediately after you 



152 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 

have attended upon instruction, if you can well avoid it 
Get time, if possible, to recollect the things you have 
heard, that they may not be w sh^d all aw y from the 
mind by a torrent of other occurrences or engagements, 
nor lost in the crowd or clamour of other loud or im- 
portunate affairs. 

Talking over the things which you have read with 
your companions, on the first proper opportunity you 
have for it, is a most useful manner of review or repe- 
tition, in order to fix them upon the mind. Teach 
them your younger friends, in order to establish your own 
knowledge, while you communicate it to them. The 
animal powers of your tongue and of your ear, as well 
as your intellectual faculties, will all join together to 
help the memory. Hermetas studied hard in a remote 
corner of the land, and in solitude, yet he became a ve- 
ry learned man. He seldom was so happy as to enjoy 
suitable society at home, and therefore he talked over 
to the fields and the woods in the evening, what he had 
been reading in the day, and found so considerable ad- 
vantage by this practice, that he recommended it to all 
his friends, since he could set his ftrobatum to it for 
seventeen years. 

5. Pleasure and delight in the things we learn, give 
great assistance towards the remembrance of them. 
Whatsoever therefore we desire that a child should 
commit to his memory, make it as pleasant to him as 
possible ; endeavour to search his genius and his tem- 
per ; and let him take in the instructions you give him, 
or the lessons you appoint hirn, as f r as may be, in a way 
suited to his natural inclination. ; Fabellus would never 
learn any moral lessons till they were moulded into the 
form of some fiction or fable like those of iEsop, or till 
they put on the appearance of a parable, like those 
wherein our blessed Saviour taught the ignorant world. 
Then he remembered well the emblematical instruc- 
tions that were given him, and learnt to practise the 
moral sense and meaning of them. Young Spectorious 
was taught virtue by setting before him a varietv of 
examples of the various good qualities in human life ; 
and he was appointed daily to repeat some story of this 
kind out of Varierius Miximus. The same lad was 
early instructed to avoid the common vices and follies 
of youth in the same manner. This is akin to the meth- 
od whereby the Lacedemonians trained up their chil- 



OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 153 

dren to hate drunkenness and intemperance, viz by 
bringing a drunken man into their company, and show- 
ing them what a beast he had made of himself. Such 
visible and sensible forms of instruction will make Jong 
and useful impressions upon the memory. 

Children may be taught to remember many things 
in a way of sport and play. } Some voung children have 
learnt their letters and syllables, and the pronouncing 
and spelling of words, by having them pasted or writ- 
ten upcn many little flat tablets or dies. Some have 
been taught vocabularies of different languages, having 
a word in one tongue written on one side of these tab- 
lets, and the same word in another tongue on the other 
side of them. 

There might be also many entertaining contrivances 
for the instruction of children in several things relating 
to geometry, geography, and astronomy, in such allur- 
ing and illusory methods, which would make a most 
agreeable and lasting impression on their minds. 

6. The memory of useful things may receive consid- 
erable aid if they are thrown into verse ; for the num- 
bers, and measures, and rhyme, according to the pnesy 
of different languages, have a considerable influence 
upon mankind, both to make them receive with more 
ease the things proposed to their observation, and pre- 
serve them longer in their remembrance. How ma ny 
are there of the common affairs of human life, which 
have been taught in early years by the help of rhyme, 
and have been like nails fastened in a sure place, and 
rivetted by dailv use ! 

So the number of the days of each month is engrav- 
en on the memory of thousands by these four lines; 

Thirty days liath September, 
April, June, and November ; 
February twenty-eight alone, 
All the rest have thirty-one. 

So lads have been taught frugality by surveying and 
judging of their own expenses by these three lines : 

Compute the pence but of one day's expense, 
— So many pounds, and angels, groats, and pence, 
Are spent in one whole year's circumference. 

For the number of days in a year is three hundred 
and sixtv-five, which number of pence makes one 
pound, one angel, one groat, and one penny. 



154 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 

So have rules of health been prescribed in the book 
called Schola Salernitani, and many a person has pre- 
served himself doubtless from evening gluttony, and the 
pains and diseases consequent upon it, bv these two lines: 

Ex magna ccena stomacho fif. maxima poena : 
Ut sis nocte levis, sit tibi ccena brevis, 

ENGLISHED. 

To be easy all night. 
Let your supper be light, 
Or else you'll complain 
' A Of a stomach in pain. 

And a hundred proverbial sentences in various lan- 
guages are formed into rhyme or a verse, whereby they 
are made to re-t upon the memcry of old and young. 

It is from this principle that moral rules have been 
cast into a poetic mould from all antiquity. So the 
gulden verses of the Pythagoreans in Greek ; Cato's 
distitches De Moribus in Latin ; Lilly's precepts to 
scholars called Qui mihi, with many others, and this 
has been done with very good success. A line or two 
of this kind recurring on the memory, have often guard- 
ed youth from a temptation to vice and fohy, as well 
as put th°m in mind of their present duty. 

It is for this reason also that the genders, declensions, 
and variations of nouns and verbs have been taught in 
verse by those who have complied with the prejudice 
of long custom, to teach English children the Latin 
tongue by rules written in Latin ; and, truly, those rude 
heaps of words and terminations of an unknown tongue 
would have never been so happily learned by heart, by 
a hundred thousand boys, without this smoothing arti- 
fice ; nor indeed do I know any thing else can be said 
with good reason, to excuse or relieve the obvious ab- 
surdities of this practice. 

When you would remember new things or words, en- 
deavour to associate and connect them with some 
words or things which you have well known before, 
and which are fixed and established in your memory. 
This association of ideas is of great importance and 
force, and may be of excellent use in many instances of 
human life. One idea which is familiar to the mind, 
connected with others which are new and strange, will 
bring those new ideas into easv remembrance. Marcn- 
ides had got the first hundred lines of Virgil's iEneis 



OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 155 

printed upon his memory so perfectly, that he knew 
not only the order and number of every word, but in 
each verse also ; would undertake to remember two or 
three hundred names of persons or things, by some ra- 
tional or fantastic connexion between some word in the 
verse, and some letter, syllable, property, or accident 
of the name or thing to be remem >ered, even though 
they had been repeated but once or twice at most in nis 
hearing. Animato practised much the same art of 
memory, by getting the Latin names of twenty-two an- 
imals into his head according to the alphabet, viz. asinus, 
basiliscus, canis, draco., eltfihas, felis, gryfihus. hircus, 
juvenis, leo t mulus, n.ctua, ovin t fianiheru i quadrup,ts y 
rhinoceros, simia, tawus, ursus, xifihias, hyana or 
ycena, zibetta. Most of these he divided also into four 
parts, viz. head and body, feet, fms or wings, and tail, 
and by some arbitrary or chimerical attachments of 
each of these to a word, or thing which he desired to 
remember, he committed them to the care of his mem- 
ory, and that with good success. 

It is also by this association of ideas that we may bet- 
ter imprint any new idea upon the memory, by joining 
with it some circumstances of the time, p*ace, compa- 
ny, &c< wherein we first observed, heard, or learned it, 
If we would recover an absent idea, it is useful t;o recol- 
lect those circumstances of time, place, &c. The sub- 
stance will many times be recovered and brought to 
the thoughts by recollecting the shadow ; a man recurs 
to our fancy by remembering his garment, his size, or 
stature, his office, or employment, 6cc. A beast, bird, 
or fish, by its colour, figure, or motion, by the cage, 
court yard, or cistern wherein it was kept. 

To this end also we may refer that remembrance 
of names and things which may be derived from our 
recollection of their likeness to other things which we 
knnw ; either their resemblance in name, character, 
form, accident, or any thing that belongs to them. An 
idea or word which has been lost or forgotten, has 
of) en been recovered bv hitting upon some other kin- 
dred word or idea, which has the nearest resemblance 
to it, .>nd that in the letters, syllables, or sound cf the 
name, as well as the properties of the thing. 



156 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 






If we would remember Hippocrates, or Galen, or 
Paracelsus, think of a physician's name, beginning with 
H, G, or P. If we will remember Ovidius Naso, we 
may represent a man with a large nose ; if Plato, we 
may think, upon a person with large shoulders; if 
Crispus, we shall fancy another with curled hair ; and 
so of other things. 

And sometimes a new or strange idea may be fixed 
in the memory, by considering its contrary or opposite. 
So if we cannot hit upon the word Goliath, the remem- 
brance of David may recover it ; or the name of a 
Trojan may be recovered by thinking of a Greek, &c. 

7. In such cases, wherein it may be done, seek after 
a local memory, or a remembrance of what you have 
read by the side or page of where it is written or print- 
ed; whether the right or left, whether at the top, the 
middle, or the bottom; whether at the beginning of a 
chapter or paragraph, or the end of it. It has been 
some advantage, for this reason, to accustom one's self 
to books of the same edition ; and it has been a constant 
and special use to divines and private Christians, to be 
furnished with sev-ral Bioles of the. same edition, that 
wheresoever they are, whether in their chamber, par- 
lour, or study, in the younger or elder years of life, they 
may tin \ the chapters and verses standing in the same 
pares oil he page, 

Tnis is also a great conveniency to be observed^ by 
printers in the new editions of Grammars, Psaims, Tes- 
taments, &c. to print every chapter, paragraph, or 
verse, in the same part of the page as ihe former, that 
so it may yield an happy assistance to those young 
learners, who find, and even feel, the advantage of a 
local memory. 

8. Let every thing we desire to remember be fairly 
and distinctly written and divided into periods, with 
large characters in the beginning, for by this means we 
shall the more readtl- imprint the matter and words 
on our minds, and recollect them with a glance, the 
more remarkable the writing appears to the eye. 
This sense conveys tne ideas to the fancy better than 
any other ; and what we have seen is not so soon for- 
gotten as what we have only heard. What Horace 
affirms of the mind or passions may be said also of the 
memory. 



OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 157 

Segnius irritant animos demissa per attrem 
Quam quce sunt oculis subjecta Jidelibus, tt quae 
"ipse sibi tradit spectator. 



APPLIED THUS IN 



ENGLISH: 




Sounds which address the ear are lost and die 
In one short hour ; but that which strikes the eye 
Lives long upon the mind ; the faithful sight 
Engraves the knowledge with a beam of lights 

For the assistance of weak memories, the first let- 
ters or words of every period in every page, may be 
written in distinct colours; yellow, green, red, black, 
&c and if you observe the same order of colours in the 
following sentences, it will be still the better. This 
will make a greater impression, and may much aid the 
memory. 

Under this head we may take notice of the advan- 
tage which the memory gains, by having the several 
objects of our learning drawn out into schemes and ta- 
bles; matters of mathematical science and natural 
philosophy are not only let into the understanding, but 
preserved in the memory by figures and diagrams. 
The situation of the several pans ot the earth is bet- 
ter learned by one day's conversing with a map or sea 
chart, than by merely reading the description of their 
situation a hundred, times over in books of geography. 
So the constellations in astronomy, and their position 
in the heavens, are more easily remembered by hem- 
ispheres of the stars well drawn. It is by having such 
sort of memorials, figures, and tables hung round our 
studies, or places of residence or resort, that our mem- 
ory of these things will be greatly assisted and improv- 
ed, as I have shown at large in the twentieth chapter 
of the use of Sciences. 

I might add here also, that once writing over what 
we design to remember, and giving due attention to 
what we write, will fix it more in the mind than read- 
ing it five times. Aid in the same manner, if we had 
a plan of the naked lines of longitude and latitude, pro- 
jected on the meridian printed for this use, a learner 
might much more speedily advance himself in the knowl- 
edge of geography by his own drawing the figures of 
all the parts of the world upon it by imitation, than by 
many days survey of a map of the world so printed. 
The same also may be said concerning the constella- 
I tions of heaven, drawn by the learner on a naked pro- 
O 



158 OF IMPROVING THE MEMORY. 

jection of the circles of the sphere upon the plane of 
the equator. 

9. It h s sometimes been the practice of men to im- 
print names ■ <r sentences on their memory, by taking 
the first letters of every word of that sentence, or of 
those names, and making a new wor ! out of them. 
So the name of the Maccabees is borrowed from the 
first letters of the Hebrew words, which make that 
sentence, Mi Qamoka Bealim Jehovah, i. c. Who is 
like thee among the gods? Which was written on 
their banners. Jesus Christ our Saviour, hath been 
called a fish, in Greek ixers, by the fathers, because 
these are the first letters of those Greek words, Jesus 
Christ, God's Son, the Saviour. So the word Vibgyor 
teaches us to remember the order of the seven origi- 
nal colours, as they appear by the sun beams cast 
through a prism on white paper, or formed by the sun 
in a rainbow, according to the different refrangibility 
of the rays, viz. violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, or- 
ange, and red. 

In this manner the Hebrew grammarians teach their 
students to remember the letters which change their 
natural pronunciation by the inscription of a dagesh, 
by gathering these six letters, beth, gimel, daleth.caph, 
pe, and thau, into the word Begadchefiat ; and that 
they might not forget the letters named Quiescent, viz. 
c, //, t;, and ?', they are joined in the word ahevi. So 
the universal and particular propositions in logic, are 
remembered by the words barbara, celarent, Darn, &c. 

Other artificial helps to memory, may be just men- 
tioned here. 

Dr. Grey, in his book called Memoria Technica, has 
exchanged the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, fcr some 
consonants, b, d, t, f, 1, y, p,k, n, and some vowels, a, 
e, i, o, u, and several diphthongs, and thereby formed 
words that denote numbers, which may be more easi- 
ly remembered ; and Mr. Lowe has improved his 
scheme, in a small pamphlet called Mnemonics delin- 
eated, whereby in seven leaves, he has comprised al- 
most an infinity of things in science and in common 
life, and reduced them to a sort of measure like Latin 
verse ; though the word 1 - may b" supposed to be very 
barbarous, being such a mixture of vowels and conso- 
nants as are very unfit for harmony. 

But after all, the very writers on this subject have 



OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 159 

confessed, that several of these artificial helps of mem- 
ory are so cumbersome as not to be suitable to every 
temper or person ; nor are they of any use for the de- 
livery of a discourse by memory, nor of much service 
in learning the sciences : but they may be sometimes 
practised for the assisting our remembrance of certain 
sentences, numbers and names. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Of Determining a Question. 

I WHEN a subject is proposed to your thoughts, 
consider whether it be knowable at all, or not ; and 
then whether it be not above the reach of your inquiry 
and knowledge in the present state ; and remember, 
tha' it is a great waste of time to busy yourselves too 
much amongst unsearchables ; the chief use of these 
studies is to keep the mind humble, by finding its own 
Ignorance aflH weakness. 

II. Consider again whether the matter be worthy of 
your inquiry at all; and then, how far it may be wor- 
th*' of your present search and labour according to 
your age, your time of life, your station in the world, 
your capacity, your profession, your chief design and 
end. There are many things worth inquiry to one 
man, which are not so to another ; and there are 
things that mav deserve the study of the same person 
in one part of life, which would be improper or imper- 
tinent at another. To read books of the art of preach- 
ing, or disputes about church discipline, are proper for 
a theological student in the end of his academical 
studies, but not at the beginning of them. To pursue 
mathematical studies very largely, may be useful for 
a prof ssor of philosophy, but not tor a divine. 

III. Consider whether the subject of your inquiry 
be easy or difficult ; whether you have sufficient foun- 
dation or skill, furniture and advantages, for the pur- 
suit of it. It would be madness for a young statuary to 
attempt at first to carve a Venus or a Mercury, and 
especially without proper tools. And it is equal folly 
for a man to pretend to make great improvements in 
natural philosophy without due experiments. 

IV. Consider whether the subject be any ways use- 



160 OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 

ful or not, before you engage in the study of it ; often 
put this question to yourselves. Cui bono ? To what 
purpose ? What end will it attain ? Is it for the glory 
of GGd, for the good of men, for your own advantage, 
for the removal of any natural or moral evil, for the 
attainment of any natural or moral good ? Will the 
profit be equal to the labour? There are many subtle im- 
pertinences learned in the schools, many painful trifles, 
even among the mathematical theorems and problems, 
many difliciles nug-az % or laborious follies of various 
kinds, which some ingenious men have be-n engaged in. 
A due reflection upon these things will call the mind 
away from vain amusements, and save much time. 

V. Consider what tendency it has to make you wiser 
and better, as well as to make you more learnt- d ; and 
those questions which tend to wisdom and prudence in 
our conduct among men, as well as piety toward God, 
are doubtless more important, and preferable beyond 
all those inquiries which only improve our knowledge 
in mere speculations. 

I VI. If the question appear to be well^woRth vrur 
diligent application, and you are furnished with the 
necessary requisites to pursue it, then consider whether 
it be dressed up and entangled in more words than is 
needful, and contain or include more complicated ideas 
than is necessary ; and if so, endeavour to reduce it to 
a greater simplicity and plainness, which will make 
the inquiry and argument easier and plainer all the way, 

VII If it be stated in an improper, obscure, or irreg- 
ular form, it may be meliorated bv changing the phrase, 
or transposing the parts of >t ; but be careful always to 
keep the grand and important point of inquiry the same 
in your new stating the question. Little tricks and de- 
ceits of sophistrv, by sliding in, or leaving out such 
words as entirelv change the question, should be aban- 
doned and renounced by all fair disputants and honest 
searchers after truth. 

The stating a question with clearness anB justice 
goes a gre t way many times towards the answering it. 
The greatest part of true knowledge lies in a disfinct 
perception of things which are in themselves distinct ; 
and some men give more light and knowledge bv the 
bare stating of the question with persoicuity and jus- 
tice, than others bv talking of it in gross confusion for 
whole hours together. To state a question, is but to 



OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 161 

s&parate and disentangle the parts of it from one anoth- 
er, as well as from every thing which does not concern 
the question, and then lay the disentangled parts of 
the question in due order and method ; oftentimes 
without more ado this fully resolves the doubt, and 
shews the mind where the truth lies, without argu- 
ment or dispute. 

VIII. If the question relate to an axiom, or first 
principle of truth, remember that a long train of 
consequences may depend upon it ; therefore it should 
not be suddenly admitted or received. 

It is not enough to determine the truth of a propo- 
sition, much less to raise it to the honour of an axiom, 
or first principle, to say, that it has been believed 
through many ages, that it has been received by ma- 
ny nations, that it is almost universally acknowledged, 
or nobody denies it, that it is established by human 
laws, or that temporal penalties or reproaches will at- 
tend the disbelief of it. 

IX. Nor is it enough to forbid any proposition the 
title of an axiom, because it has been denied by some 
persons, and doubted by others ; for some persons have 
been unreasonably credulous, and others have been as 
unreasonably skeptical. Then only should a proposi- 
tion be called an axiom, or a self-evident truth, when, 
by a moderate attention to the subject and predicate, 
their connexion appears in so plain a light, and so clear 
an evidence, as needs no third idea, or middle term, 
to prove them to be connected. 

X. While you are in search after twith in questions 
of a doubtful nature, or such as you have not yet thor- 
oughly examined, keep up a just indifference to either 
side of the question, if you would be led honestly into 
the truth: for a desire or inclination leaning to either 
side, biasses the judgment strangely : whereas by this 
indifference from every thing but truth, you will be ex- 
cited to examine fairly instead of presuming, and your 
assent will be secured from going beyond your evidence. 

XI . For the most part of people are born to their opin- 
ions, and never question the truth of what their family, 
ortheir country, or their party profess. They clothe 
their minds as they do their bodies, after the fashion in 
vogue, and one of a hundred never examined their prin- 
ciples. It is suspected of lukewarmness to suppose ex- 
amination necessary : and it will be charged as a ten- 

O 2 



162 OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 

dency to apostasy it we go about to examine them 
Persons are applauded for presuming they are in the 
right, and (as Mr. Locke saith) he that considers and 
inquires into the reason of things is counted a foe to or- 
thodoxy, because possibly he may deviate from some 
of the received doctrines. And thus men, without any 
industry or acquisition of their own (lazy and idle as 
they are} inherit local truths, i. e. the truths of that 
place where they live, and are inured to assent without 
evidence. 

This hath a long and unhappy influence ; for if a man 
can bring his mind once to be positive and fierce for 
propositions whose evidence he hath never examined, 
and that in matters of the greatest concernment, he will 
naturally follow this short and easy way of judging and 
believing in cases of less moment, and build all his opin- 
ions upon insufficient grounds. 

XII. In determining a question, especially when it is 
a matter of difficulty and importance, do not take up 
with partial examination, but turn your thoughts on all 
sides, to gather in all the light you can toward the solu- 
tion of it. Take time, and use all the helps that are 
to be attained, before you fully determine, except only 
where present necessity of action calls for speedy de- 
termination. 

If you would know what may be called a partial ex- 
amination, take these instances, viz. 

When you examine an object of sense, or inquire in- 
to some matter of sensation at too gr,eata distance from 
the object, or in an inconvenient situation of it, or under 
any indisposition of the organs, or any disguise whatso- 
ever relating to the medium or the organ of the object 
itself ; or when you examine it by one sense onlv, where 
others might be employed ; or when you inquire into 
it by sense only, without the use of the understanding, 
and judgment, and reason. 

If it be a question which is to be determined by rea- 
son and argument, then your examination is partial 
when you turn the question only in one light, and do not 
turn it on all sides ; when you look upon it only in its 
relations and aspects to one sort of object, and not to 
another; when you consider only the advantages of it, 
and the reasons for it, and neglect to think of the rea- 
sons against it, and never survey its inconveniences too; 
when you determine on a sudden, before you have giv- 



OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 163 

ed yourself a due time for weighing all circumstan- 
ces, &c. 

Again, If#^)e a question of fact, depending upon the 
report or testimony of men, your examination is but 
partial, when vou enquire only what one man or a few 
say, and avoid the testimony of others ; whep you only 
ask what those report who were not eye or ear witnes- 
ses, and neglect those who saw and heard it ; when 
you content yourself with mere loose and general talk 
about it, and never enter into particulars ; or when 
there are manv who deny the fact, and you never con- 
cern yourself about their reasons for denying it, but re- 
solve to believe only those who affirm it. 

There is yet a further fault in your partial examina- 
tion of any question, when you resolve to determine it 
by natural reason only, where you might be assisted 
by supernatural revelation ; or when you decide the 
point by some word or sentence, or by some part of 
revelation, without comparing it with other parts, which 
might give further light and better help to determine 
the meaning. 

It is also a culpable partiality, if you examine some 
doubtful or pretended vision or revelation without the 
use of reason; or without the use of that revelation, 
which is understood and sufficiently proved to be divine. 
These are all instances of imperfect examination ; and 
we should never determine a question by one or two 
lights, where we may have the advantage of three or 
four- 

XIII Take heed, lest some darling notion, some fa- 
vourite hypothesis, some beloved doctrine, or some com- 
mon but unexamined opinion, be made a test of the truth 
or falsehood of all other propositions about the same 
subject. Dare not build much upon such ^ notion or doc- 
trine till it be very fully examined accurately adjusted, 
and sufficiently confirmed . Some persons, by indulg- 
ing such a practice, have been led into long ranks of 
errors ; they have found themselves involved in a train 
of mistakes, by taking up some petty hypothesis or 
principle, either in philosophy, politics, or religion, 
upon slight and insufficient grounds, and establishing 
that as a test and rule by which to judge of all other 
things. 

XIV. For the same reason, have a care of suddenly 
•determining any one question on which the determina- 



164 OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 

tion of any kindred or parallel cases will easily of nat- 
urally follow. Take heed of receiving any wrong turn 
in your early judgment of things ; be w^ltchful as far 
as possible, against any false bias which may be given 
to the understanding, especially in younger years. The 
indulgence of some one silly opinion, or the giving cred- 
it to one foolish fabie, lays the mind open to be imposed 
upon by many. The ancient Romans were taught to 
believe that Romulus and Remus, the founders of their 
state and empire, were exposed in the woods, and 
nursed by a wolf: This story prepared their minds for 
the reception of any tales of the like nature relating to 
other countries. Trogus Pompeius would enforce the 
belief, that one of the ancient kings of Spain was also 
nursed and suckled by a hart, from the fable of Romu- 
lus and Remus. It was by the same influence they 
learned to give up their hopes and fears to omens and 
soothsaying, when they were once persuaded that the 
greatness of their empire, and the glory of Romulus 
their founder, were predicted by the happy omen of 
twelve vultures appearing to him when he sought 
where to build the city. They readily received all the 
following legends, of prodigies, auguries, and prognos- 
tics, for' many ages together, with which Livy has fur- 
nished his huge history. 

So the child who is once taught to believe any one 
occurrence to be a good or evil omen, or any day of the 
month or week to be lucky or uulucky, hath a wide in- 
road made on the soundness of his understanding in the 
following judgments of his life ; he lies ever open to all 
the silly impressions, and idle tales of nurses, and im- 
bibes many a foolish story with greediness, which he 
must unlearn again, if ever he become acquainted 
with truth and wisdom. 

XV. Have a care of interesting your warm and re- 
ligious zeal in those matters which are not sufficiently 
evident in themselves, or which are not fully and thor- 
oughly examined and proved ; for this zeal, whether 
right or wrong, when it is once engaged, will have a 
powerful influence to establish your own minds in those 
doctrines which are really doubtful, and to stop up all 
the avenues of further light. This will bring upon the 
soul a sort of sacred awe and dread of heresy, with a 
divine concern to maintain whatever opinion you have 
espoused as divine, though perhaps you have espoused 



'OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 165 

it without any just evidence, and ought to have renoun- 
ced it as false .and pernicious. 

We ought to be zealous for thenmst important points 
of our religion, and to contend earnestly for the faith 
once delivered to the saints ; but we ought not to em- 
ploy this sacred fervour of spirit in the service of any 
article, till we have seen it made out with plain and 
strong conviction, that at is a necessary or important point 
of fyith or practice, and is either an evident dictate of 
the light of nature, or an assured article of revelation. 
Zeal must not reign over the powers of our understand- 
ing, but obey them : God is the God of light and truth, 
a God of reason and order, and he never requires man- 
kind to use their natural faculties amiss for the support 
of his cause. Even the most mysterious and sublime 
doctrines of revelation are not to be believed without a 
just reason for it ; nor should our pious affections be 
engaged, in the defence of them, till we have plain and 
convincing proof that they are certainly revealed, 
thnugh perhaps we may never in this world attain to 
such clear and distint ideas of them as we desire. 

XVI. As a warm zeal ought never to be employed 
in tlv defence of any revealed truth, till our reason be 
well convinced of the revelation ; so neither should wit 
and banter, jest and ridicule, ever be indulged to oppose 
or assault any doctrines of professed revelation, till 
reason lias proved they are not really revealed ; and 
even then these methods should be used very sel- 
dom, and with the utmost caution and prudence. Rail- 
lerv and wit were never made to answer cur inquiries 
after truth, and to determine a question of rational 
controversy ; though they may sometimes be service- 
able t^ expose to contempt those inconsistent follies 
which have been first abundantly refuted by argument; 
they serve indeerl onlv to cover nonsense with shame, 
when reason has first proved it to be mere nonsense. 

It is therefore a silly and most unreasonable test 
which some of our deists have introduced to judge of 
divine revelation, viz to try if it will-bear ridicule and 
laughter, They are effectually beaten in all their com- 
bats at the weapons of men, that is, reason and argu- 
ment ; and it would not be unjust (though it is a little 
uncourt.lv) to say, that they would now attack our re- 
ligion with the talents of a vile animal, that is, grin 
and grimace. 



166 OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 

I cannot think that a jester or a monkey, a droll or 
a puppet, can be proper judges or deciders of contro- 
versy. That which dresses up all things in disguise, 
is not likely to lead us into any just sentiments about 
them. Plato or Socrates, Caesar or Alexander, might 
haveafol's coat placed upon any of them, and perhaps 
in this disguise, neither the wisdom of the one, nor the 
majesty of the other, would secure them from a sneer ; 
this treatment would never inform us whether they 
were kings or slaves, whether they were fools or phi- 
losophers. The strongest reasoning, the best sense, 
and the politest thoughts, may be set in a most ridicu- 
lous light by this grinning faculty ; the most obvious 
axioms of eternal truth may be dressed in a very fool- 
ish form, and wrapt up in artful absurdities by this tal- 
ent ; but they are truth, and reason, and good sense 
still. Euclid, with all his demonstrations, mig'it be so 
cohered and overwhelmed with banter, that a beginner 
in the mathematics might be tempted to doubt whether 
his theorems were true or not, and to imagine they 
could never be useful. So weaker minds may be easily 
prejudiced against the noblest principses of truth and 
goodness ; and the younger part of mankind might be 
beat off from the belief of the most serious, the most 
rational and important points, even of natural religion, 
by the impudent jests of a profane wit. The moral du- 
ties of the civil life, as well as the articles of Christian- 
ity, may be painted over with the colours of folly, and 
exposed upon a stage, so as to ruin all social and per- 
sonal virtue among the gay and thoughtless part of the 
world. 

XVII. It should be observed also, that these very 
men cry out loudly against the use of all severe rail- 
ing and reproach in debates, and a'l penalties and per- 
secutions of the State, in order to convince the minds 
and consciences of men, and determine points of truth 
and error. Now I renounce these penal und smart- 
ing methods of convicion as much as they do and vet 
I think still these are clearly as wise, as just, and 
as good for this purpose as b 'liter and ridicule. W hy. 
should public mockery in print, or a merry joke up- 
on a stage, be a better test of truth, than sever?, railing 
sarcasms, and public persecutions and penalties? 
Why should more light be derived to the understand- 
ing, by a song of scurrilous mirth, or a witty ballad, 



OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 167 

than there is by a rude cudgel ? W hen a professor of 
any religion is set up to l>e laughed at, I cannot see 
how this should help us to judge of the truth of his 
faith any better than if we were scourged. The jeers 
of a theatre, the pillory, and the whipping post, are 
very near akin. When the person or his opinion is 
made the jest of the mob, or his back the shambles of 
the executioner, I think there is no more conviction in 
the ont than in the other. 

XVIII. Besides, supposing it is but barely possible 
that the great God should reveal his mind and will to 
men by miracle, vision, or inspiration, it is a piece of 
contempt and prorane insolence to treat any tolerable 
or rational appearance of such a, revelation with jest 
and laughter, in order to find whether it be divine or 
not. And yet, if this be a proper test of revelation, it 
may be properly applied to the true as well as the 
false, in order to distinguish it. Suppose a royal proc- 
lamation were sent to a distant part of the kingdom, 
and some of the subjects should doubt whether it came 
from the king or not : Is it possible that wit and ridi- 
cule should ever decide the point? Or would the 
prince ever think himself treated with just honour to 
have his proclamation canvassed in this manner on a 
public stage, and become the sport of buffoons, in or- 1 
der to determine the question, whether it is the word of 
a king or not ? 

Let such sort of writers go on at their dearest peril, 
and sport themselves in their own deceivings ; let them 
at their peril make a jest of the Bible, and treat the 
sacred articles of Christianity with scoff and merri- 
ment : But then let them lay aside all their pretences 
to reason as well as religion ; and as they expose 
themselves by sach writings to the neglect and con- 
tempt of men, so let them prepare to meet the majesty 
and indignation of God without timely repentance. 

XIX. In reading philosophical, moral, or religious 
controversies, never raise your esteem of any opinion 
by the assurance and zeal wherewith the author as- 
serts it, nor by the highest praises he bestows upon it ; 
nor, on the other hand, let your esteem of an opinion 
be abated, nor your aversion to it raised by the super- 
cilious contempt cast upon it by a warm writer, nor 
by the sovereign airs with which he condemns it. Let 
the force of argument alone influence your assent or 



168 OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 

dissent. Take care that your soui be not warped or 
biassed on one side or the other, by any strains of 
flattering or abusive iangu ige ; for there is no question 
whatsoever, but hath some such sort of defenders and 
opposers* Leave those writers to their own follies, 
who practise thus upon the weakness of their readers 
without argument; leave tnem to triumph in their 
own fancied possessions and victories ; it is oftentimes 
found that tiieir possessions are uht a heap of errors, 
and tlieir boasted victories are but overbearing noise 
and clamour to silence the voice of truth. 

In philosophy and religion, the bigots of all parties 
are generally the most positive, and deal much in this 
sort of argument. Sometimes these are the weapons 
of pride ; lor a haugnty man supposes all his opinions 
to be infallible, and imagines the contrary sentiments 
are ever ridiculous, and not worthy of notice. Some- 
times Uiese ways or* talking are the mere arms of igno- 
rance : The men who use them know little of the op- 
posite side of the question, and therefore they exult in 
their own vain pretences to knowledge, as though, 
no man of sense could oppose their opinions. They 
rail at an objection against their own sentiments, be- 
cause they can find no other answer to it but railing. 
And men of learning, by their excessive vanity, have 
heen sometimes tempted into the same insolent prac- 
tice, as well as the ignorant. 

Yet let it be remembered too, that there are some 
truths so plain and evident, that the opposition to them 
is strange, unaccountable, and almost monstrous; and 
in vindication of such truths, a writer of good sense 
may sometimes be allowed to use a degree of assur- 
ance, and pronounce them strongly with an air of con- 
fidence, while he defends them with reasons of con- 
vincing force. 

XX. Sometimes a question may be proposed which 
is of so large and extensile a nature, and refers to such 
a multitude of subjects, as oaght not in justice to be de- 
termined at once by a single argument or answer ; as if 
one should ask me, Are you a prolessed disciple of the 
Stoics or the PAatoqists ? Do you receive and assent to 
the principles of Gassenaus, Descar.es, or Sir Isaac 
Newton ? Have you chosen the hypothesis of Tycho or 
Copernicus ? Have you devoted yourself to the senti- 
ments of Arminius or Calvin ? Are your notions Episco- 



OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 169 

pal, Presbyterian, or Independent r* &c. I think it may- 
be very proper in such cases not to &ive an answer in 
the gross, but rather to enter into a detail of particulars, 
and explain one's own sentiments. Perhaps there is no 
man, nor set of men upon earth, whose sentiments I 
entirely follow. God has given me reason to judge for 
myself; and though 1 may see sufficient ground to agree 
to tne greatest part of the opinions of one person or par- 
ty, yet ii does by no means follow that I should receive 
them all. Truth does not always go by the lump, nOr 
does error tincture and spoil all the articles of belief that 
some one party professes. 

Since there are difficulties attending every scheme of 
human knowledge, it is enough for me in the main to 
incline to that side which lias the fewest difficulties ; 
and I wouid endeavour, as far as possible, to correct the 
mistakes or the harsh expressions ot one party, by soft- 
ening and reconciling methods, by reducing the ex- 
tremes, and by borrowing some of the best principles or 
phrases from another. Cicero was one of the greatest 
men of antiquity, and gives us an account of the various 
opinions of philosophers in his age; but he himself \vas 
of tae eclectic sect, and chose out. ot* each of them such 
positions as in his wisest judgment came nearest to the 
truth. 

XXi. When you are called in the course of life or 
religion to judge and determine concerning any question, 
and to affirm or deny it, take a full survey of the objec- 
tions against it, as well as of the arguments for it, as far as 
your time and circumstances admit, and see on which 
side the preponderation falls. If either the objections 
against any proposition, or the arguments for the defertce 
of it, carry in them most undoubted evidence, and are 
plainly unanswerable, they will and ought to cqnstrain 
the assent, though there may be many seeming proba- 
bilities on the other side, which at first sight would flat- 
ter the judgment to favour it. But where the reasons 
qn both sides are very nearly of equal weight, there sus- 
pension or doubt is our duty, unless in cases wherein 
present determination or practice is required, and then 
we must act according to the present appearing pre- 
ponderation of reasons. 

XXII. In matters of moment and importance, it is 
our duty indeed to seek after certain and conclusive ar- 
guments, (if they can be found) in order to determine a 
P 



170 OF DETERMINING A QUESTION, 

question ; but where the matter is of little consequence, 
it is not wortn our labour to spend much time in seek- 
ing after certainties ; it is sufficient here, if probable 
reasons offer themselves. And even in matters of great- 
er importance, especially where daily practice is neces* 
sarv, and where we cannot attain any sufficient or cer- 
tain grounds to determine a question on either side, we 
must then take up with such probable arguments as we 
can arrive at. But this general rule should be observ- 
ed, viz. to take heed that our assent be no stronger, or 
rise no higher, in the degree of it, than the probable ar- 
gument will support. 

XXIII. There are many things, even in religion, as 
well as in philosophy and civil life, which we believe 
with very different degrees of assent ; and this is or 
should be always regulated according to the different 
degrees of evidence which we enjoy ; and perhaps there 
are a thousand gradations in our assent to the things we 
believe, bee i use t'ri ere are thousands of circumstances re- 
lating to different questions, which increase or diminish 
the evidence we have concerning them, and that in 
matters both of reason and revelation. 

I believe there is a God, and that obedience is due to 
him from every* reasonable creature : this I am most 
fully assured of, because I have the strongest evidence, 
since it is the plain dictate both of reason and revelation. 

Again, I believe there is a future resurrection of the 
dead, .because scripture tells us so in the plainest terms, 
though reason says nothing of it. I believe also that the 
same matter of our bodies wheih died (in part at least) 
shall arise ; but I am not so fully assured of this circum- 
stance, because the revelation of it is not quite so clear 
and express. Yet further I believe, that the good men 
who were acquainted here on earth shall know each 
other in heaven ; but my persuasion of it is not absolutely 
certain, because my assent to it arises only from circum- 
stantial reasonings of men upon what God has told us, 
and therefore my evidences are not strong beyond a pos- 
sibility of mistake. This direction ennnot be too often 
repeated, that our assent ought always to keep pace 
with our evidence ; and our belief of any proposition 
should never rise higher than the proof, or evidence we 
have to support it, nor should our faith run faster than 
right reason can encourage it. 

XXIV. Perhaps it will be objected here, why then 



OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 171 

does our Saviour, in the histories of the Gospel, so much, 
commend a strong faith, and bestow both his miraculous 
benefits and his praises upon some of those poor crea- 
tures of little reasoning, who professed an assured be- 
lief of his commission and power to heal them ? 

I answer, the God of nature has given every man his 
own reason, to be the judge of evidence to himself, in 
particular, and to direct his assent in all things about 
which he is called to judge ; and even the matters of 
revelation are to be believed by us, [because our reason 
pronounces the revelation to be true. Therefore the 
great God will not, or cannot, in any instance, require 
us to assent to any thing without reasonable or sufficient 
evidence ; nor to believe any proposition more strongly 
than what our evidence for it will support. We have 
therefore abundant ground to believe, that those persons 
of whom our Saviour requires such strong faith, or whom 
he commends for their strong faith, had a strong and 
certain evidence of his power and commission from the 
credible and incontestable reports they had heard of his 
miracles, which were wrought on purpose to give evi- 
dence to his commission.* Now in such a case, both this 
strong faith and the open profession of it, were very 
worthy of public encouragement and praise from our 
Saviour, because of the great and public opposition which 
the magistrates and the priests, and the doctors of the 
age, made against Jesus, the man of Nazareth, when 
he appeared as the Messiah. 

And besides all this, it may be reasonably supposed s 
with regard to some of those strong exercises of faith 
which are required and commended, that these believ- 
ers had some further hints of inward evidence and im- 
mediate revelation from God himself; as when St. Pe- 
ter confesses Christ to be the Son of God, Matt. xvi. 16, 
17. our blessed Saviour commends him, saying, " Bless- 
ed art thou, Simon Barjona :" But he adds, ""Flesh and 
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
who is in heaven.'' 

* When our Saviour gently reproves Thomas for his unbelief, (John 
xx. 29.) he does it in these words : " Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, 
thou hast believed : blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have be- 
lieved," i, e. " Blessed are they who, though they have not been favoured 
with the evidence of their senses as thou hast been, yet have been con- 
vinced by the reasonable and sufficient moral evidence of the well ground- 
ed report of others, and have believed in me upon that evidence." Of 
this moral evidence Mr. Ditton writes exceedingly well in his book of 
*he Resurrection of Christ. 



172 OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 

And the same may be said concerning thp faith of mir- 
acles, the exercise of which was sometimes required of 
the disciples and others ; i. e. when bv i- wad and di- 
vine influences God assured them such nvr cles should 
be wrought their obedience to and compliance with these 
divine illuminations was expected and commended. 
Now this supernatural inspiration carried sufficient evi- 
dence wi*h it to them, as well as to the ancient prophets* 
though we who never felt it are not so capable to 
judge and distinguish it. 

]£XV. What is said before concerning truth or doc- 
trines may be also affirmed concerning duties ; the rea- 
son of both is the same ; as the one are truths for our 
speculation, the others are truths for our practice Du- 
ties which are expressly required in the plain lane-uage 
of scripture, or dictated by the most evident reasoning 
upon first principles, ought to bind our consciences more 
than those which are but dubiouslv inferred, ^nd that 
cnly from occasional occurrences, incidents, and circum- 
stances. As for instance, I am certain that I ought to 
pray to God ; my conscience is bound to this, because 
there are most evident commands for it to be found in 
scripture, as well as to be derived from reason. I be- 
lieve also that I may pray to God, either by a written 
form, or without one, because neither reason nor reve- 
lation expresslv requires either of these modes of praver 
at all times, or forbids the other. I cannot therefore 
bind my conscience to practise the one so as utterly to 
renounce the other ; but I would practise either of them, 
as my reason and other circumstances direct me. 

Again, — T believe that Christians ought to remember 
the death of Christ by the symbols of bread and wine ; 
and I believe there ought to be pastors in a Christian 
church some way ordained or set apart to lead the wor- 
ship, and to bless and distribute the elements ; but the 
last of these practices is not so expressly directed, pre- 
scribed, and required in scripture as the former ; and 
therefore I feel my conscience evidentlv bound to remem- 
ber the death of Christ with some society of Christians 
or other, since it is a most plain command, though th^ir 
methods of ordaining a pastor be very different from 
other men, or from my own opinion ; or whether the 
person who distributes these elements be only an occa- 
sional or a settled administrator ; since none of these 
things are plainly determined in scripture ; I must not 



OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 173 

omit or neglect an express command, because some un- 
necessary circumstances are dubious. And I trust I 
shall receive approbation from the God of nature, and 
from Jesus my Judge at the last day, if I have endeav- 
oured in this manner to believe and practise every thing 
in proportion to the degree of evidence which God has 
given me about it, or which he has put me into a capacity 
to seek and obtain in the age and nation wherein I live. 

Query.. Whether the obstinate Deists and Fatalists of 
Great Britain, will find sufficient apology from this prin- 
ciple ? But I leave them to venture the awful experiment. 

XXVI. We may observe these three rules, in judg- 
ing of probabilities which are to be determined by rea- 
son, relating either to things past, or things to come. 

1. That which agrees most with the constitution of 
nature carries the greatest probability in it, where no 
other circumstance appears to counterpoise it ; as, if I 
let loose a greyhound within sight of a hare upon a 
large plain, there is great probability that the grey- 
hound will seize her ; that a thousand sparrows will fly 
away at the sight of a hawk among them. 

2. That which is most conformable to the constant 
observations of men, or to experiments frequently re- 
peated, is most likely to be true ; as, that a winter will 
not pass away in England without some fr x ost and snow,: 
that if you deal out great quantities of strong liquor to 
the mob, there will be many drunk ; that a large assem- 
bly of men will be of different opinions in an^ T doubtful 
point ; that a thief will make his escape out of prison, 
if the doors of it are unguarded at midnight. 

3. In matters of fact, which are past or present,where 
neither nature, nor observation, nor custom, gives us any 
sufficient information on either side of the question, there 
we may derive a probability from the attestation of wise 
and honest men, by word or writing, or the concurring 
witnesses of multitudes who have seen and known what 
they relate, &c. This testimony in many cases will arise 
to the degree of moral certainty. So we believe that 
the tea-plant grows in China ; and that the Emperor of 
the Turks lives at Constantinople ; that Julius Csesar 
conquered France ; and that Jesus our Saviour lived and 
died in Judea ; that thousands were converted to the 
Christian faith in a century after the death of Christ; 
and that the books which contain the Christian religion 
are certain histories and epistles which were writtep 

P2 



174 OF DETERMINING A QUESTION. 

above a thousand vears ago. There is an infinite vari- 
ety of such propositions which can admit of no reasona- 
ble doubt,though they are not matters which are directly 
evident to our own senses, or our mere reasoning powers. 

XXVII. When a point has been well examined, 
and our own judgment settled upon just arguments in 
our manly age, and after a large survey of the merits of 
the cause, it would be a weakness for us always to con- 
tinue fluttering in suspense. We ought, therefore, to 
stand firm in such well established principles, and not 
be tempted to change and alter for the sake of every 
difficultv, or every occasional objection. We are not 
to be carried about with every flying doctrine, like chil- 
dren tossed to and fro, and wavering with the wind. It 
is a good thing to have the heart established with grace, 
not with meats, that is, in the great doctrines of the 
gospel of grace, and in Jesus Christ, who is the same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever ; but it is not so neces- 
sary in the more minute matters of religion, such as 
meats and drinks, forms and ceremonies, which are of 
less importance, and for which Scripture has not giv- 
en us such express directions. This is the advice of 
the great Apostle, Eph. iv. 14. Heb. xiii. 8, 9. 

In short, those truths which are the springs of daily 
practice should be settled as soon as we can with the 
exercise of our best powers, after the state of manhood ; 
but those things wherein we may possibly mistake, should 
never be so absolutely and finally established and deter- 
mined, as though we were infallible. If the Papists of 
Great Britain had maintained such a resolute establish- 
ment and assurance in the days of King Henry VIII. or 
Queen Elizabeth, there never had been a reformation ; 
nor would any Heathen have been converted even under 
the ministry of St. Paul, if their obstinate settlement in 
their idolatries had kept their eyes shut against all fur- 
ther light. Yet this should not hinder us from settling 
our most important principles of faith and practice, 
where reason shines with its clearest evidence, and the 
word of God plainlv determines truth and dutv- 

XXVIII. But let us remember also, that though the 
gospel be an infallible revelation, we are but fallible in- 
terpreters, when we determine the sense even of some 
important propositions written there ; and therefore, 
though we seem to be established ^n the belief of any 
particular sense of scripture, and though there may be 



OF INQUIRING INTO CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 175 

just calls of Providence to profess and subscribe it, yet 
there is no need that we should resolve or promise, sub- 
scribe or swear, never to change our mind ; since it is 
possible* in the nature and course of things, we may meet 
with such a solid and substantial objection, as may give 
us a quite different view of things from what we once 
imagined, and may lay before us sufficient evidence of 
the contrary. We may happen to find a fairer light 
cast over the same scriptures, and see reason to alter our 
sentiments even in some points of moment. Sic scntio 
sic sentiam,- i. e. So I believe, and so I will believe, is the 
prison of the soul for life time, and a bar against all the 
improvements of the mind* To impose such a profes- 
sion on other men in matters not absolutely necessary, 
and not absolutely certain, is a criminal usurpation and 
tyranny over faith and conscience, and which none has 
power to require but an infallible dictator. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Of Inquiring into Causes and Effects. 

SOME effects are found out by their causes, and some 
causes by their effects. Let us consider both these. 

1. When we are inquiring into the* causes of any 
particular effect or appearance, either in the world of 
nature, or in the civil or moral concerns of men, we 
may follow this method : 

1. Consider what effects or appearances you have 
known of a kindred nature, and what have been the 
certain and real causes of them ; for like effects have- 
generally like causes, especially when they are found 
in the same sort of subjects. 

2. Consider what are the several possible causes 
which rnav produce such an effect ; and find out by 
some circumstances how many of those possible causes 
are excluded in this particular case ; thence proceed 
by degrees to the probable causes, till a more close at- 
tention and inspection shall exclude some of them also, 
and lead you gradually to the real and certain cause. 

3. Consider what things preceded such an event or 
appearance, which might have any influence upon it; 
and though we cannot certainly determine the cause of 
any thing only from its going before the effect, yet among 



'176 



OF INQUIRING INTO 



the many forerunners, we may probably light upon the 
true cause by further and more particular enquiry. 

4. Consider whether one cause be sufficient to produce 
the effect, or whether it does not. require a concurrence 
of several causes; and then endeavour as far as possi- 
ble to adjust the degree of influence that each cause 
might have in producing the effect, and the proper agen- 
cy and Influence of each of them therein. 

So in natural philosophy, if I would find what are the 
principles or causes of that sensation which we call heat 
when I stand near the fire, here I shall find it is necessa- 
ry that there be an agency of the particles of fire on my 
flesh, either mediately by themselves, or at least by the 
intermediate air ; there must be a particular sort of mo- 
tion and vellication imprest upon my nerves ; there must 
be a derivation of that motion to the brain ; and there 
must be an attention of my soul to this motion ; if either 
of these are wanting, the sensation of heat will not be 
produced. 

So in the moral world, if 1 inquire into the revolution 
of a state or kingdom, perhaps 1 find it broueht about 
by the tvranny or folly of a prince, or by the disaffection 
of his own subjects ; and this disaffection and opposition 
may arise either upon the account of impositions in re- 
ligion, or injuries renting to their civil rights; or the 
revolution may be effected by the invasion of a foreign 
army, or by the opposition of some person at home or 
abroad, that lays claim to the government, 8cc. or a hero 
who would guard the liberties of the people ; or by many 
of these concurring together; then we must adjust the 
influences of each as wisely as we can, and not ascribe 
the whole event to one of them alone, 

II. When we are enquiring into the effects of any 
particular cause or causes, we may follow this method : 

1. Consider diligently tine nature of every cause apart, 
and observe what effect every part or property of it 
will tend to produce. 

2. Consider the causes united together in their seve^ 
ral natures, and ways of operation ; inquire how far the 
powers or proprieties of one will hinder or promote the 
effects of the other, and wisely balance the proportions 
of their influence. 

3. Consider what the subject is, in or upon which the 
cause is to operate; for the same cause on different 



CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 177 

subjects will oftentimes produce different effects, as the 
sun which softens wax, will harden clay. 

4. Be frequent and diligent in making all proper ex- 
periments, in setting such causes at work, whose effects 
you desire to know, and putting together in, an orderly 
manner such things as are most likely to produce some 
useful effects, according to the best survey you can take 
of all the concurring causes and circumstances. 

5. Observe carefully all the events which happen 
either by an occasional concurrence of various causes, 
or by the industrious applications of knowing o>en ; and 
when you see any happy effect certainly produced, and 
often repeated, treasure it up, together with the known 
causes of it, amongst your improvements. 

6. Take a just survey of all the circumstances which 
attend the operation of anv cause or causes, whereby 
any special effect is produced ; and find out as far as 
possible how far any of those circumstances had a ten- 
dency either to obstruct or promote, or change those 
operations, and consequently how far the effect might 
be influenced by them. 

In this manner physicians practise and improve their 
skill. They consider the various known effects of par- 
ticular herbs or drugs, they meditate what will be the- 
effects of their composition, and whether the virtues of 
the one will exalt or diminish the force of the other, or 
correct any of ijis innocent qualities Then thev observe 
the native constitution, and the present temper or cir- 
cumstances of the patient, and whft is likely to be the 
effect of such a medicine, on ■such a patient. And in ail 
uncommon cases, they make wise and cautious experi- 
ments, and nicely observe the effects of particular com- 
pound medicines on different constitutions, and in differ- 
ent diseases; and bv these treasures of just observa- 
tions, they grow up to an honourable degree of skill in 
the art of healing. 

So the preacher considers the doctrines and reasons, 
the precepts, the promises and threatening? of the word 
of God, and what are the natural effects of them upon 
the mind; he considers "hat is the natural tendency of 
such a virtue or such a vice ; he is well apprized that 
the representation of some of these things may convince 
the understanding, some may terrify the conscience* 
some may allure the slothful, and some encourage the 
desponding mind; he observes the temper of his hear* 



m 



OF THE SCIENCES, 



ers, or of any particular person that converses with him 
about things sacred, and he judges what will be the ef- 
fects of each representation on such persons ; he reviews 
and recollects what have been the effects of some spe- 
cial parts and methods of his ministry ; and by a careful 
survey of all these, be attains greater degrees of skill in 
his sacred employment. 

JVote. — In all these cases, we must distinguish those 
causes and effects which are naturally and necessarily 
connected with each other, from those which have only 
an accidental or contingent connexion. Even in those 
causes where the effect is but contingent, we may some- 
time's arrive at a very high degree of probability ; yet 
we cannot arrive at such a certainty as where the causes 
operate by an evident and natural necessity, and the ef- 
fects necessarily follow the operation. 

See more on this subject, Logic, Part II. Chap V. 
Section 7. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Of the Sciences, and their Use in particular Pro- 
fessions. 

I. The best way to learn any science, is to begin 
with a regular system, or a short and plain scheme of 
that science, well drawn up into a narrow compass, o- 
mitting the deeper and more abstruse parts of it, and 
that also under the conduct and instruction of some skil- 
ful teacher. Systems are necessary to give an entire 
and comprehensive view of the several parts of any sci- 
ence, which may have a mutual influence towards the 
explication or proof of each other ; whereas, if a man 
deals always and only in essays and discourses oh par- 
ticular parts of a science, he will never obtain ? distinct 
and just idea of the whole, and may perhaps omit some 
important part of it, after seven years reading of such 
occasional discourses. 

For this reason, young students should apply them- 
selves to their systems much more than pamphlets. 
That man is never so fit to judge of particular sub- 
jects relating to any science, who has never taken a sur- 
vev of the whole. 

It is the remark of an ingenious writer, should a bar- 



^ AND THEIR USE. 1?9 

barous Indian, who had never seen a palace or a ship, 
view their separate and disjointed parts, and /Observe 
the pillars, doors, windows, cornices, and turrets of the 
one, or the prow and stern, the ribs and masts, the 
ropes and shrouds, the sails and tackle of the other, he 
would be able to form but a very lame and dark idea 
of either of those excellent and useful inventions. In 
like manner, those who contemplate only the fragments 
or pieces broken oft* from any science, dispersed in short 
unconnected discourses, and do not discern their rela- 
tion to each other, and how they may be adapted, and 
by their union procure the delightful symmetry of a 
regular scheme, can never survey an entire body of 
truth, but mustalways view it as deformed and dis- 
membered ; while their ideas, which must be ever in- 
distinct, and often repugnant, will lie in the brain un- 
i sorted, and thrown together without order or cohe- 
rence : Such is the knowledge of those men who live 
upon the scraps of the sciences. 

A youth of genius and lively imagination, of an active 
and forward spirit, may form within himself some al- 
luring scenes and pleasing schemes in the beginning 
of a science, which are utterly inconsistent with some of 
the necessary and substantial parts of it, which appear 
in the middle or the end. And if he never read and 
pass through the whole, he takes up and is satisfied 
with his own hasty, pleasing schemes, and treasures 
these errors up amongst his solid acquisitions ; whereas 
his own labour and study further pursued, would have 
shewn him his own mistakes, and cured him of his self 
flattering delusions. 

Hence it comes to pass, that we have so many half 
scholars now a days, and there is so much confusion and 
inconsistency in the notions and opinions of some per- 
sons, because they devote their hours of study entirely 
to short essays and pamphlets, and cast contempt upon 
systems under a pretence of greater politeness ; where- 
as the true reason of this contempt of systematical 
learning, is mere laziness and want of judgment. 

II. After we are grown well acquainted with a short 
system or compendium of a science, which is written in 
the plainest and most simple manner, it is then proper 
to read a large regular treatise on that subject, if we 
design a complete knowledge and cultivation of it; and 
either while we are reading this larger system, or after 



180 OF THE SCIENCES, 

we have done it, then occasional discourses and essays 
upon the particular subjects and parts of that science 
may be read with the greatest profit ; for in these es- 
says we may often find very considerable corrections 
and improvements of what these compends, or even 
the larger systems may have taught us, mingled with 
some mistakes. 

And these corrections or improvements should be as 
remarks adjoined by way of note or commentary in 
their proper places, and superadded to the regular 
treatise we have read. Then a studious and judicious 
review of the whole will give us a tolerable acquaint- 
ance with that science. 

III. It is a great happiness to have such a tutor, or 
such friends and companions at hand, who are able to 
inform us what are the best books written on any sci- 
ence, or any special part of it. For want ol this ad- 
vantage, many a man has wasted his time in reading 
over perhaps some whole volumes, and learned little 
more by it than to know that those volumes were not 
worth his reading. 

IV. As for the languages, they are certainly best 
learned in the younger years of life. The memory is 
then most empty and unfurnished, and ready to receive 
new ideas continually. We find that children, in two 
years time after they are born,iearn to speak their na- 
tive tongue. 

V. The mere abstracted sciences, which depend 
mose upon the understanding and judgment, ;.nd which 
deal much in abstracted ideas, should not be imposed 
upon children too soon ; such are logic, metaphysics, 
ethics, politics, or the depths and difficulties of gram- 
mar and criticism. Yet it must be confessed, the first 
rudiments of grammar are necessary, or at least very 
convenient to be known, when a youth learns a new 
language ; and some general, easy principles and rules 
of morality and divinity are needful, in order to teach 
a child his uuty to God and man ; but to enter far into 
abstracted reasonings en these subjects, is beyond the 
capacity of children. 

VI. There are several of the sciences that will more 
agreeably employ our younger years, and the general 
parts of them may be easily taken in by boys. The first 
principles and the easier practices of arithmetic, geom- 
etry, plain trigonometry, measuring heights, depths, 



AND THEIR USE. 181 

lengths, distances, &c. the rudiments of geometry and 
astronomy, together with something of mechanics, may 
be easily conveyed into the minds of acute young per- 
sons from nine to ten years old and upwards. These 
studies may be entertaining and useful to young ladies 
as well as to gentlemen, and to all those who are bred 
up to the learned professions. The fair sex may inter- 
mingle those with the operations of the needle, and the 
knowledge of domestic life. Boys may be taught to 
join them with their rudiments of grammar, and their 
labour in the languages. And even those who never 
learn any language but their mother tongue, may be 
taught these sciences with lasting benefit in early days. 

That this may be done with ease and advantage, 
take these three reasons : 

(.1.) Because they depend so much upon schemes and 
numbers, images, lines, and figures, and sensible things, 
that the imagination or fancy will greatly assist the un- 
derstanding, and render the knowledge of them much, 
more easy. 

(2.) These studies are so pleasant, that they will 
make the dry labour of learning words, phrases, and 
languages, more tolerable to boys in a Latin school, by 
this most agreeable mixture. The employment of youth, 
in these studies, will tempt them to neglect many of the 
foolish plays of childhood, and they will find sweeter en- 
tertainment for themselves and their leisure hours, by a 
cultivation of these pretty pieces of alluring knowledge. 

(3.) The knowledge of these parts of science are 
both easy and worthy to be retained in the memory by 
all children when they come to manly years, for they 
are useful through all the parts of human life : They 
tend to enlarge the understanding early, and to give a, 
various acquaintance with useful subjects betimes. 
And surely it is best, as far as possible, to train up chil- 
dren in the knowledge of those things which they should 
never forget, rather than to let them waste years of 
life in trifles, or in hard words which are not worth re- 
membering. 

And here by the way, I cannot but wonder that any 
author in our age should have attempted to teach any 
of the exploded physics of Descartes, or the noble in- 
ventions of Sir Isaac Newton, in his hypothesis, of the 
heavenly bodies, and their motions, in his doctrine of 
light and colours, and other parts of his physiology, or to 
v2 



182 OF THE SCIENCES, 

instruct children in the knowledge of the theory of the 
heavens, earth, and planets, withrut any figures or dia- 
grams. Is it possible to give a boy or a young lady the 
clear, distinct, and proper apprehensions of these things, 
without lines and figures to describe them ? Does not 
their understanding want the aid of fancy and images 
to convey stronger and juster ideas of them to the in- 
most soul ? Or do they imagine that youth can pene- 
trate into ali these beauties and artifices of nature, 
without these helps, which persons of maturer age find 
necessary for that purpose ? I would not willingly name 
the books, because some of the writers are said to be 
gentlemen of excellent acquirements. 

VII. Aft> r we have first learnt -^jid gone through any 
of those arts and sciences which are to be explained by 
diagrams, figures, and schemes ; such as geometry, 
geography, astronomy, optics, mechanics, &c. we may 
best preserve them in memory,by having those schemes 
and figures in large sheets of paper, hanging always 
before the eye in closets, parlours, halls, chambers, en- 
tries, staircases, &c. Thus the learned images will be 
perpetually impressed on the brain, and will keep the 
learning that depends upon them alive and fresh in the 
mind through the growing years of life : the mere dia- 
grams and figures will ever recal to our thoughts those 
theorems, problems, and corollaries, which have been 
demonstrated by them. 

It is incredible how much geography may be learnt 
this way by the two terrestrial hemispheres, and by 
particular maps and charts of the coasts and countries 
of the earth, happily disposed round about us. Thus 
we may learn also the constellations, by just projections 
of the* celestial sphere, hung up in the same manner. 
And I must confess, for the bulk of learners of astrono- 
my, I like that projection of the stars best, which in- 
cludes in it all the stars of our horizon, and therefore it 
reaches to the 38£ degrees of southern latitude, though 
its centre is the north pole. This gives us a better 
view of the heavenly bodies, as they appear every night 
to us ; and it may be made use of with a little instruc- 
tion, and with ease, to serve for a nocturnal, and show 
the true hour of the night. 

But remember, if there be any colouring upon 
these maps or projections, it should be laid on so thin 
as not to obscure or conceal any part of the lines, fig- 



AND THEIR USE. 183 

ures, or letters ; whereas most times they are daubed 
so thick with gay and glaring colours, and hung up so 
high ab'>ve the reach of the eye that shoul' survey and 
read them, as though their only design were to make a 
gaudy show upon the wall, and they hung there mere- 
ly to cover the naked plaister or wainscot. Those sci- 
ences which may be drawn out into tables may also be 
thus hung up and disposed in proper places, such as 
brief abstrac s of history, chronology, &c. and indeed 
the schemes of any of the arts or sciences may be ana- 
lyzed in a sort of skeleton, and represented upon tables, 
with various dependencies and connexipns of their sev- 
eral parts and subjects that belong to them. Mr. Solo- 
mon Lowe has happily thrown the grammar of several 
languages into such tables ; and a frequent review of 
these abstracts and epitomes would tend much to im- 
print them on the brain, when they have been once well 
learned ; this would keep those learned traces always 
open, and assist the weakness of a labouring memory. 
In this manner may a scheme of the scripture history 
be drawn out, and perpetuate those ideas in the mind 
with which our daily reading furnishes us. 

VIII. Every man who pretends to the character of a 
scholar should attain some general and superficial ideas 
of most or all the sciences; for there is a certain con- 
nexion among the various parts of human knowledge, 
so that some notions borrowed from any one science 
may assist our acquaintance with any other, either by 
way of explication, illustration, or proof ; though there 
are some sciences conjoined by a much nearer affinity 
than others. 

IX. Let those parts of every science be chiefly studied 
at first, and reviewed afterwards, which have a more 
direct tendency to assist our proper profession, as men, 
or our general profession as Christians, always observ- 
ing what we ourselves have found most necessary and 
useful to us in the course of our lives. Age and expe- 
rience will teach us to judge which of the sciences, and 
which parts of them, have been of greatest use, and are 
most valuable ; but in vounger years of life we are not 
sufficient judges of this matter, % and therefore should 
seek advice from those who are elder. 

X. There are three learned professions among us, viz. 
divinity, law, and medicine. Though every man who 
pretends to be a scholar or a gentleman, should so far 



184 



0F THE SCIENCES, 



acquaint himself with a superficial scheme of all these 
sciences, as not to stand amazed like a mere stranger 
at the mention of the common subjects that belong to 
them ; yet there is no necessity for every man of learn- 
ing to enter into their difficulties anil deep recesses, nor 
to climb the heights to which some others have arrived. 
The knowledge of them in a proper measure may be 
happilv useful to every profession, not only because all 
arts and sciences have a sort of communion and con- 
nexion with each other, but it is an angelic pleasure to 
grow in knowledge, it is a matter of honour and es- 
teem, and renders a man more agreeable and accepta- 
ble in every company. 

But let us survey several of them more particularly,, 
with regard to the learned professions ; and first, of the 
mathematics. 

XI. Though I have so often commended mathemat- 
ical studies, and particularly the speculations of arith- 
metic and geometry, as a means of fixing a wavering 
mind, to beget an habit of attention, and to improve 
the faculty of reason ; yet I would by no means be un- 
derstood to recommend to all a pursuit of these sciences 
to those extensive lengths to which the moderns have 
advanced them. * This is neither necessary nor proper 
for any students,' but those few who shall make these 
studies their chief profession and business of life, or 
those gentlemen whose capacities and turn of mind are 
suited to these studies, and have all manner of advan- 
tage to improve in them. 

The general principles of arithmetic, algebra, geom- 
etrv, and trigonometry, of geography, of modern astron- 
omy, mechanics, statics, and optics, havp their valuable 
and excellent uees not only for the exercise ar,d improve- 
ment of the faculties of the mind, but the subjects them- 
selves are verv well worth our knowledge in a moderate 
degree, and are often made nf admirable service in hu- 
man life. So much of these subjects as Dr, Wells has 
given us in his three volumes, entitled, " I he Young 
Gentleman's Mathematics ,'* is richly sufficient for the 
greatest part of scholars or gentlemen ; though perhaps 
there may be some single treatise, at least some of 
these subjects, which may be better written a'.d more 
useful to be nerused, than those of that learned author. 

But a penetration into the abstruse difficulties and 
depths of modern algebra and fluxions, the various 



AND THEIR USE, 185 

methods of quadratures, the mensuration of all manner 
of curves, and their mutual transformation, and twenty 
other things that some modern mathematicians deal in, 
are not worth the labour of those who design either of 
the three learned professions, divinity, law, or physic, 
as the business of life. ) This is the sentence of a consid- 
erable man, viz. Dr. George Cheyne, who was a very 
good proficient and writer on these subjects : He affirms, 
that they are but barren and airy studies for a man 
entirely to live upon, and that for a man to indulge and 
riot in these exquisitely bewitching contemplations, is 
only proper for public professors, or for gentlemen of 
estates, who have a strong propensity this way, and a 
genius fit to cultivate them. 

/ But, says he, to own a great but grievous truth, though 
they may quicken and sharpen the invention, strength- 
en and extend the imagination, improve and refine the 
reasoning faculties, and are of use both in the necessary 
and the luxurious refinement of the mechanical arts ; 
yet, having no tendency to rectify the will, to sweeten 
Jthe temper, or mend the heart, they often leave a stiff- 
ness, a positiveness and sufficiency on weak minds, 
which is much more pernicious to society, and to the in- 
terests of the great end of our being, than all their ad- 
vantages can recompense. | He adds further, concerning 
the launching into the depth of these studies, that they 
are apt to beget a secret and refined pride, and over- 
weening and overbearing vanity, the most opposite 
temper to the true spirit of the gospel. This tempts 
them to presume on a kind of omniscience in respect to 
their fellow creatures, who have not risen to their ele- 
vation ; nor are they fit to be trusted in the hands of any 
but those who have acquired a humble heart, a lowly 
spirit, and a sober and teachable temper. See Dr. 
Cheyne's preface to his Essay on Health and long Life. 

XII. Some of the practical parts of geometry, astron- 
omy, dialling, optics, statics, mechanics, 8cc. may be 
agreeable entertainments and amusements to students 
in every profession, at leisure hours, if they enjoy such 
circumstances of life as to furnish them with convenien- 
ces for this sort of improvement ; but let them take 
great care lest they entrench upon more necessary em- 
ployments, and so fall under the charge and censure of 
wasted time. 

Yet I cannot help making this observation, that where 
Q 2 



186 OF THE SCIENCES, 

students, or indeed anv young gentleman, have in their 
early years made themselves masters of a variety of 
elegant problems in the mathematical circle of knowl- 
edge and gained the most easy, neat, and entertaining; 
experiments in natural philosophy, with some short and 
agreeable speculations or practices in any other of the 
arts and sciences, they have herebv laid a foundation? 
for the esteem and love of mankind among those with 
whom they converse, in higher or lower ranks of life ; 
they have been often guarded by this means from the 
temptation of guilty pleasures, and have secured both 
their own hours and the hours of their companions from- 
running to waste in sauntering and trifles, and from a 
thousand impertinences in silly dialogues. Gaming and 
drinking, and many criminal and foolish scenes of talk 
and action, have been prevented by these innocent and 
imnroving elegancies of knowledge. 

XIII. History is a necessary study in the supreme 
place for gentlemen who deal in politics. The govern- 
ment of nations, and distressful and desolating events 
which have in all ages attended the mistakes of politi- 
cians, should be ever present on their minds, to warn 
them to avoid the like conduct. Geography and chro- 
nology, which precisely inform us of the place and time 
where such transactions or events happened, are the 
eyes of history, and of absolute necessity in some meas- 
ure to attend it. 

But history, so far as relates to the affairs of the Bible, 
is as necessary to divines as to gentlemen of any profes- 
sion. It helps us to reconcile many difficulties in script- 
ure, and demonstrates a Divine Providence. Dr. Pri- 
deaux's Connexion of the Old and New Testament is 
an excellent treatise of this kind. 

XIV. Among the smaller histories, biography or the 
memoirs of th° lives of great and good men, has a high 
rank in my esteem, as worth v of the perusal of every 
person who devotes himself to the stndv of divinity. 
Therein we frequently find our holy religion reduced to 
practice, and many parts of Christianity shining with a 
transcendent and exemplary light. We learn there 
how deeplv sensible great and good men have been of 
the ruins of human nature, by the first apostasy from 
God, and how they have toiled and laboured, and turn- 
ed themselves on all sides, to seek a recovery, in vain, 
tiil they have found the gospel of Christ an all-sufficient 



AND THEIR USE. 187 

relief. We are there furnished with effectual and un- 
answerable evidences that the religion of Jesus, with all 
its self denials, virtues and devotions, is a very practica- 
ble thing, since it has been carried to such a degree of 
honour by some wise and holy men. We have been 
there assured, that the pleasures and satisfactions of the 
Christian life, in its present practice and future hopes, 
are not the mere raptures of fancy and enthusiasm, 
when some of the strictest professors of reason have 
added the sanction of their testimony. 

In short, the lives or memoirs of persons of piety, well 
written, have been of infinite and unspeakable advan- 
tage to the disciples and professors of Christianity, and 
have given us admirable instances and rules how to re-; 
sist every temptation of a soothing or frowning world, 
how to practise important and difficult duties, how to 
love God above all, and to love our neighbour as our- 
selves, to live by the faith of the Son of God, and to die 
in the same faith, in sure and certain hope of a resur- 
rection to eternal life. 

XV. Remember that logic and ontology or metaphys- 
ics are necessary sciences, though they have been great- 
ly abused bv scholastic writers, who have professed to 
teach them in former ages. Not only all students, 
whether thev design the profession of theology, law or 
physic, but all gentlemen should at least acquire a super- 
ficial knowledge of them. The introduction of so many 
subtleties, nice distinctions, and insignificant terms, with- 
out clear ideas, has brought a great part of the logic 
and metaphysics of the schools into just contempt. 
Their logic has appeared the mere art of wrangling, and 
their metaphysics the skill of splitting an hair, of distin- 
guishing without a difference, and of putting long hard 
names upon common things, and sometimes upon a con- 
fused jumble of things, which have no clear ideas belong- 
ing to them, 

It is certain that an unknown heap of trifles and im- 
pertinences have been intermingled with these useful 
parts of learning, upon which account, many persons in 
this polite age, have made it a part of their study to 
throw a jest upon them ; and to rally them well has 
been esteemed a more valuable talent than to under- 
stand them. 

But this is running into wide extremes ; nor ought 
these parts of science to be abandoned by the wise, be- 



188 OF THE SCIENCES, 

cause some writers of former ages have played the fool 
with them. True logic teaches us to use our reason 
well, and brings a light into the understanding ; true 
metaphysics or ontology, casts a light upon all the ob- 
jects of thought and meditation, by ranging every being, 
with all the absolute and relative perfections and 
properties, modes, and attendants of it, in proper ranks 
or classes, and thereby it discovers the various relations 
of things to each other, and what are their general or 
special differences from each other, wherein a great 
part of human know ledge consists. And by this means 
it greatly conduces to instruct us in method, or the dis- 
position of every thing into its proper rank or class of 
beings, attributes, or actions. 

XVI. If I were to say any thing of natural philosophy, 
I would venture to lay down my sentiments thus : 

I think it must needs be very useful to a divine to un- 
derstand something of natural science. The mere na- 
tural history of birds, beasts and fishes, of insects, trees, 
and plants, as well as of meteors, such as clouds, thun- 
der, lightnings, snow, hail, frost, &c. in all their common 
or uncommon appearances, may be of considerable use 
to one who studies divinity, to give him a wider and 
more delightful view of the works of God, and to furnish 
him with lively andhappv images and metaphors drawn 
from the large volume of nature, to display and repre- 
sent the things of God and religion, in the most beauti- 
ful and affecting colours. 

And if the mere history of these things be useful for 
this purpose, surely it will be of further advantage to be 
led into the reasons, causes, and effects of these natural 
objects and appearances, and to know the established 
laws of nature, matter and motion, wherebv the great 
God carries on his extensive works of providence from 
the creation to this day. 

I confess the old Aristotlean scheme of this science 
will teach us but very little that is worth knowing, about 
these matters ; but the later writers, who have explain- 
ed nature and its operations in a more sensible and geo- 
metrical manner, are well worth the moderate study of 
a divine ; especially those* who have followed the prin- 
ciples of that wonder of our age and nation, Sir Isaac 
Newton. There is much pleasure and entertainment, 
as well as real profit, to be derived from those admira- 
ble improvements which have been advanced in natur- 



AND THEIR USE. 



al philosophy in late years, by the assistance of mathe- 
matical learning, as well as from the multitude of exper- 
iments which have been made, and are still making, in 
natural subjects. 

XVII. This is a science which indeed eminently be- 
longs to the physician ; he ought to know all the parts 
of human nature, what are the sound and healthy func- 
tions of an animal body, and what ure the distempers 
and dangers which attend it ; he should also be furnish- 
ed with a large knowledge of plants and minerals, and 
every thing which makes up the materia m/dica^ or the 
ingredients of which medicines are made ; and many 
other things in natural philosophy are subservient to his 
profession, as well as the kindred art of surgery. 

XVIII. Questions about the powers and operations of 
nature may also sometimes come into the lawyer's cog- 
nizance, especially such as relate to assaults, wounds, 
murders, 8cc. I remember I have read the trial of a 
man for murder by drowning, wherein the judge on the 
bench heard several arguments concerning the lungs 
being filled or net filled with water, by inspir tion or ex- 
piration, &c. to all which he professed himself so much 
a stranger, as did not do him any great honour in public. 

XIX. But I think no divine, who can obtain it, should 
be utterly destitute of this knowledge. By the assistance 
of this study, he will be better able to survey the various 
monuments of creating wisdom in the heavens, the earth 
and the seas, with wonder and worship ; and bv the use 
of a moderate skill in this science, he may communicate 
so much of the astonishing works of God, in the forma- 
tion and government of this visible world, and so far in- 
struct manv of his hearers, as may assist the transfusion 
of the same ideas into their minds, and raise them to the 
same delightful exercises of devotion. O Lord, how 
manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made 
them all ! They are sought out by all that have pleas- 
ure in them. 

Besides, it is worthy of the notice of every student in 
theology, that he ought to have some acquaintance with 
the principles of nature, that he may judge a little how 
far they will go ; so that he may not be imposed upon 
to take every strange appearance in nature for a mira- 
cle ; that he may reason the clearer upon this subject ; 
that he may better confirm the miracles of Moses and 
of Christ ? nor yield up his faith to any pretences of pro 



190 OF THE SCIENCES, 

digy and wonder, which are either the occasional and 
uncommon operations of the elements, or the crafty 
sleights of men well skilled in philosophy and mechan- 
ical operations, to delude the simple. 

XX. The knowledge also of animal nature, and of 
the rational soul of man, and the mutual influence of 
these two ingredients of our composition upon each oth- 
er, is worthy the study of a divine. It is of great im- 
portance to persons of this character and office, to judge 
how far the animal powers have influence upon such 
and such particular appearances and practices of man- 
kind ; how far the appetites or passions of human na- 
ture are owing to the flesh and blood, or to the mind ; 
how far they may be moderated, and how far they 
ought to be subdued ; and what are the happiest meth- 
ods of obtaining these ends, By this science also we 
may be better informed how far these passions or ap- 
petites are lawful, and how far they are criminal, by 
considering how far they are subject to the power of 
the will, and how far they may be changed, and cor- 
rected by our watchfulness, care and diligence. 

It comes a:so very properly under the cognizance of 
this profession, to be able in some measure to determine 
questions which mav arise relating to real inspiration, 
or prophecy , to wild enthusiasm, to fits of a convulsive 
kind, to melancholy or frenzy, &c. and what direc- 
tions are proper to be given concerning any appearan- 
ces of this nature. 

XXI. Next to the knowledge of natural things, and 
acquaintance with the human nature and constitution, 
which is made up of soul and body, I think that natural 
religion properly takes its place This consists of these 
two parts, viz. (1.) The speculative or contemplative, 
which is the knowledge of God in his various perfec- 
tions, and in his relations to his rational creatures, so 
far as may be known by the light of nature, which 
heretofore used to be called the second part of meta- 
physics. It includes also, (2.) That which is practical 
or active, that is, the knowledge of the several duties 
which arise from our relation to God, and our relation 
to our fellow creatures, and the proper conduct and gov- 
ernment of ourselves ; this has been used to be called 
ethics, or moral philosophy. 

XXII. The knowledge of these things is proper for 
all men of learning ; not only because it teaches them to 



AND THEIR USE. 191 

obtain just views of the several parts of revealed religion 
and of Christianity , which are built upon them, but be- 
cause every branch of natural religion and of moral duty 
is contained, and necessarily implied, in all the revealed 
religions that ever God prescribed to the world. We 
may well suspect that religion does not come from God, 
which renounces any part of natural duty. 

Whether mankind live under the dispensation of the 
patriarchs, or of Moses, or the prophets, or of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, still we are bound to know the one true 
God, and to practise all that adoration and reverence, 
all that love to him, that faith in his perfections, with 
that obedience and submission to his will, which natural 
religion requires. We are still bound to exercise that 
justice, truth and goodness towards our neighbours, that 
restraint and moderation of our own appetites and pas- 
sions, and that regular behaviour towards ourselves ond 
all our fellow creatures around us, which moral philos- 
ophy teaches. There is no sort of revealed religion that 
will dispense with these natural obligations ; and a hap- 
py acquaintance with the several appetites, inclinations, 
and passions of human nature, and the best methods to 
rule and restrain, to direct and govern them, are our 
constant business, and ought to be our everlasting study. 
Yet I would lay down this caution, viz. That since stu- 
dents are instructed in the knowledge of the true God 
in their lectures on Christianity, and since among the 
Christian duties they are also taught all the moral dic- 
tates of the li^ht of nature, or a complete scheme of eth- 
ics, there is no absolute necessity of learning these two 
parts of natural religion, as distinct sciences, separate 
and bv themselves; but still it is of great importance for 
a tutor, while he is reading to his pupils these parts of 
the Christian religion, to givt them notice how far the 
light of nature or mere reason will instruct us in these 
doctrines and duties, and how far we are obliged to rii- 
vi-ne revelation and scripture, for clearing up and estab- 
lishing the firm foundations of the one, for affording us 
superior motives and powers to practise the other, for 
raising them to more exaited degrees, and building so 
glorious a superstructure upon them. 

XXII I. The study of natural religion, viz. The knowl- 
edge of God and the rules of virtue and piety as far as 
they are discovered by the light of nature, is needful in- 
deed to prove the truth of divine revelation or scripture 



102 OF THE SCIENCES, 

in the most effectual manner ; but after the divine au- 
thority of scripture is established, that will be a very suf- 
ficient spring from whence the bulk of mankind' may 
derive their knowledge of divinity, or the Christian re- 
ligion, in order to their own present faith and practice, 
and their future and eternal happiness. In this sense, 
theology is a science necessary for every one that hopes 
for the favour of God, and the felicity of another world ; 
and it is of infinitely more importance than any of the 
arts and sciences which belong to any of the learned pro- 
fessions here on earth* 

XXIV. Perhaps it will be thought necessary I should 
say something concerning the study of the civil law, or 
the law of nature and nations. 

If we would speak with great justness and propriety, 
the civil law signifies the peculiar law of each state, 
country, or city; but what we now a days usually mean 
by the civil law, is a body of laws composed out of the 
best of the Roman and Grecian laws, and which was in 
the main received and observed through all the Roman 
dominions for above twelve hundred years. 

The Romans took the first grounds of this law from 
what they call the twelve tables, which were the abridg- 
ments of the laws of Solon at Athens, and of the other 
cities of Greece famous for knowledge and wisdom ; to 
which they added their own ancient customs of the city 
of Rome, and the laws which were made there. These 
written laws were subject to various interpretations, 
whence controversies dnily arising, they were determin- 
ed by the judgment of the learned ; and these determin- 
ations were what they first called Jus Civile, — All this 
by degrees grew to a vast number of volumes ; and 
therefore the Emperor Justinian commanded his chan- 
cellor Tribonian to reduce them to a perfect body, and 
this is called the body of the civil law. 

XXV. But that which is cf most importance for all 
learned men to be acquainted with, is the law of nature, 
or the knowledge of right and wrong among mankind, 
whether it be transacted between single persons or com- 
munities, so far as common reason and the light of na- 
ture dictates and directs. This is w hat Puffendorff calls 
the law of naaire and nations, as will appear if you eon- 
suit Sect. 3. Chap. III. of that most valuable folio he has 
written on the subject; which is well worthy the study 
of every man of learning, particularly lawyers and di- 



AMD THEIR USE. 193 

vines, together with other treatises on the same theme. 
If any question proposed relate to right and property, 
and justice between man and man, in any polite and civ- 
ilized country,though it must be adjurigea chiefly accord- 
ing to the particular statutes and laws of that country, 
yet the knowledge of the law of nature will very consid- 
erably assist the lawyer and the civil judge in the deter- 
mination thereof. And this knowledge will be of great 
use to divines, not only in deciding of cases of conscience 
among men, and answering any difficult inquiries which 
may be proposed to them on this subject, but it will 
greatly assist them also in their studies relating to the 
law of God, and the performance or violation thereof, 
the nature of duty and sin, rewards and punishments. 

XXVI. I have spoken something of the languages 
before, but let me here resume the subject, and put in 
a few thoughts about those studies which are wont to 
be called philological; such as history, languages, 
^grammar, rhetoric, poesy, and criticism. 

An acquaintance with some of the learned languages 
at least, is necessary for all the three learned professions. 

XXVII. The lawyers, who have the least need of 
foreign tongues, ought to understand Latin. During 
many ages past, very important matters in the law were 
always written and managed in that language by the 
lawyers, as prescriptions in medicine by the physicians, 
and citations of the scriptures in divinity were always 
made in Latin by the divines. Prayers also were ordain- 
ed to be said publicly and privately in the Roman tongue; 
pater nosters and ave marias were half the devotions 
of those ages. These cruel impositions upon the peo- 
ple would not suffer them to read in their own mother 
tongue what was done, either to or for their own souls, 
their bodies, or their estates. I am ready to suspect 
this was all owing to the craft and policy of the priest- 
hood and church' of Home, which endeavoured to ag- 
grandize themselves, and exalt their own profession in- 
to a sovereign tyranny, and to make mere slaves of the 
laity among mankind, by keeping them in utter igno- 
rance, darkness, and dependence. And they were 
willing to compound the matter with the physicians and 
the lawyers, and allow them a small share in this ty- 
ranny over the populace, to maintain their own su- 
preme dominion over all. 

" But we thank God, the world is grown something 
R 



194 OF THE SCIENCES, 

wiser; and of late years the British Parliament has 
been pleased to give relief from that bondage in mat- 
ters relating to the law also, as in the age of the Refor- 
mation we were delivered from saying our prayers in 
Latin, from being bound to read the word of God in a 
tongue unknown to the people, and from living in ever- 
lasting subjection to the clergy in matters of this life, 
and the life to come. 

But to return : There are still so many forms of pro- 
ceedings in judicature, and things called by Latin names 
in the professions of the law, and so many barbarous 
words with Latin terminations, that it is necessary law- 
yers should understand this language'. Some acquaint- 
ance also with the eld French tongue is needful for the 
same persons and professions, since the tenures of Lyt- 
tleton, which are a sort of Bible to the gentlemen of the 
long robe, were written in that language; and this 
tongue has been interwoven in some forms of the En- 
glish law, from the days of William the Conqueror, 
who came from Normandy in France. 

XXVIII. Physicians should be skilled in the Greek 
as well as in the Latin, because their great master Hip- 
pocrates wrote in that tongue, and his writings are still 
of good value and use. A multitude of the names, both 
of the parts of the body, of diseases, and of medicines, 
are derived from the Greek language ; and there are 
many excellent books of physic, both in the theoretical 
and practical parts of it, which are delivered to the 
world in the Roman tongue ; and of which that profes- 
sion should not be ignorant. 

XXIX. Such as intend the study of theology should 
be well acquainted also with the Latin, because it has 
been for many hundred years the language of the 
schools of learning; their disputations are generally 
limited to that language, and many and excellent books 
of divinity must be entirely concealed from the students, 
unless they are unacquainted with Latin authors. 

But those that design the sacred profession of theolo- 
gy, should make it their labour of chief importance to 
be very conversant with their Bibles, both in the Old 
and New-Testaments ; and this requires some knowl- 
edge of those original languages, Greek and Hebrew, 
in which the scriptures were written. All that will 
pursue these studies with honour, should be able to read 
the Old Testament tolerably in the Hebrew tongue ; at 



AND THEIR USE. 195 

least they should be so far acquainted with it, as to find 
out the sense of a text by the help of a dictionary. But 
scarce any man should be thought worthy of the name of 
a solid divine, or a skilful teacher of the gospel, in these 
days of light and liberty, unless he has pretty good 
knowledge of the Greek, since all the important points 
of the Christian religion are derived from the New Tes- 
tament, which was first written in that language. 

XXX. As for the Syriac and Arabic tongues, if one 
divine in thirty, or in three hundred, travel far into these 
regions, it is enough. A few learned men skilled in 
these languages will make sufficient remarks upon them 
for the service of the whole Christian world ; which re- 
marks may sometimes happen to be of use to those di- 
vines who are unacquainted with them in reading the 
Bible. But the advantage of these tongues is not of so 
great importance as it has been too often represented. 
My reader will agree with me, when he considers that 
the chief uses of them are these : 

The Arabic is a language which has some kindred 
and affinity to the Hebrew, and perhaps we may now 
and then guess at the sense of some uncommon and 
doubtful Hebrew word, which is found but once or twice 
in the Bible, by its supposed affinity to the Arabic ; but 
whatever conjectures may be made by some kindred of 
a Hebrew word to an Arabic root, yet there is no cer- 
tainty to be gathered from it ; for even words of the same- 
language, which are undoubtedly derived from the same 
theme or primitive, will give us but very doubtful and 
scanty information concerning the true sense of kindred 
words which spring from the same theme. 

Let me give a plain instance or two of this uncertain- 
ty. _ The word strages signifies slaughter; stratum is 
Latin for a bed : stramenis straw ; and stragulum is 
a quilt or coverlet : They are all drawn and derived 
from sterno, which signifies to throw down, to kill, or to 
spread abroad. Let the critics tell me what certain 
sense they could put upon either of these four words by 
their mere cognation with each other, or their derivation 
from one common verb. Again, who can tell me the 
certain meaning and precise idea of the word honest in 
English, and assure me that it signifies a man of integ- 
rity, justice, aud probity, though it is evidently derived 
from honesfus in Latin ? Whereas honestus has a very 
different idea, and signifies a man of some figure in the 



196 OF THE SCIENCES, 

world, or a man of honour. Let any man judge then 
how little service toward explaining the Hebrew tongue 
can be furnished from all the language of Arabia. Sure- 
ly a great part of the long learned fatigues and tiresome 
travels of men through this country, is almost vain and 
useless, to make the Hebrew Bible better unde stood- 

As for the Syriac language, it is granted there may 
be some small advantage drawn from the knowledge of 
it, because there is a very_ancient translation of the New 
Testament in that tongue ; and perhaps this may some- 
times give a proper and apposite meaning to a difficult 
and doubtful text, and offer a fair hint for recovering the 
true meaning of the scripture from the perverse glosses- 
of other writers. But there are several commentators 
and lexicographers who have been acquainted with the 
Syriac language, and have given us the chief of these 
hints in their writings on scripture. 

And after all, since none of these assistances can yield 
us a sufficient proof of a true interpretation, and give 
a certain sense of a text, who would be persuaded 
to waste any great number of his bett r hours in such 
dry studies, and in labours of so little profit ? 

XXXI. The Chaldean language indeed is much near- 
er to the Hebrew, and it is proper for a divine to have 
some acquaintance with it, because there are several 
verses or chapters of Ezra and Daniel which are writ- 
ten in that language ; and the old Jewish targums or 
commentaries, which are written in the Chaldean 
tongue, may sometimes happen to cast a little light upon 
a doubtful scripture of the Old Testament. 

But it must be still owned, that the knowledge of these 
eastern tongues does not deserve to be magnified to such 
a degree as some of the proficients in them have indulg- 
ed ; wherein they have carried matters bevond all rea- 
son and justice, since scarce any of the most important 
subjects of the gospel of Christ, and the way of salva- 
tion, can gain any advantage from them. 

XXXII. The art of grammar comes now to be men- 
tioned. It is a distinct thing from the mere knowledge 
of the languages ; for all mankind are taught from their 
infancy to speak their common tongue, by a natural imi- 
tation of their mothers and nurses, and those who are 
round about them, without any knowledge of the art of 
grammar, and the various observations and rules that 
relate to it. Grammar, indeed, is nothing else but rules 



AND THEIR USE. 197 

and observations drawn from the common speech of 
mankind in their several languages; and it teaches us 
to speak and pronounce, to spell and write with propri- 
ety and exactness, according to the custom of those in 
every nation, who are or were supposed to speak and 
write their own language best : "Now it is a shame for a 
man to pretend to science and study in any of the three 
learned professions, who is not in some measure ac- 
quainted with the propriety of those languages with 
which he ought to be conversant in his daily studies, 
and more especially in such as he may sometimes be 
called upon to write as well as read. 

XXXIII. Next to grammar, we proceed to consider 
rhetoric. 

Now rhetoric in general is the art of persuading, 
which may be distinguished into these three parts, viz. 
(1.) Conveying the sense of the speaker to the under- 
standing of the hearers in the clearest and most intelli- 
gible manner, by the plainest expressions and the most 
lively and striking representations of it, so that the mind 
may be thoroughly convinced of the thing proposed. 
(2.) Persuading the will effectually to choose or refuse 
the thing suggested and represented. (3.) Raising the 
passions in the most vivid and forcible manner, so as to 
set all the soul and every power of nature at work, to 
pursue or avoid the thing in debate. 

To attain this end, there is not only a great deal of 
art necessary in the representation of matters to the au- 
ditory, but also in the disposition or method of introduc- 
ing these particular representations, together with the 
reasons which might convince, and the various methods 
which might persuade and prevail upon the hearers. 
There are certain seasons wherein a violent torrent of 
oration, in a disguised and concealed method, may be 
more effectual than all the nice forms of logic and rea- 
soning. The figures of interrogation and exclamation 
have sometimes a large place and happy effect in this 
sort of discourse, and no figure of speech should be 
wanting here, where the speaker has art enough hap- 
pily to introduce it. 

There are many remarks and rules laid down by the 
teachers of this art, to improve a young genius in those 
glorious talents whereby Tully and Demosthenes acquir- 
ed that amazing influence and success in their own age 
ahd nation, and that immortal fame through all nations 
R2 



188 OF TIIE SCIENCES, 

and ages. And it is with great advantage these rules 
may be perused and learned. But a happy genius, a 
lively imagination, and warm passions, together with a 
due degree of knowledge, and skill in the subject to be 
debated, and a perpetual perusal of the writings of the 
best orators, and hearing the best speakers, will do more 
to make an orator than all the rulps of art in the world, 
without these natural talents, and this careful imitation 
of the most approved and happiest orators. 

XXXIV. New you will presently suppose that plead- 
ers - at the bar have great need of this art of rhetoric ; 
but it has been a just doubt, whether pleading in our 
British courts of justice, before a skilful judge, should 
admit of any other aid from rhetoric than that which 
teaches to open a cause clearlv, and spread it in the 
most perspicuous, complete and impartial manner be- 
fore the eyes of him who judges; for impartial justice 
being the thing which is sought, there should be no ar- 
tifice used, no eloquence or power of language employ- 
ed to persuade the will, or work upon the passions, lest 
the decisive sentence of the judge should be biassed or 
warped into injustice. For this reason, Mr. Locke 
would banish all pleaders in the law for fees out of his 
government of Carolina, in his posthumous works, 
though that great man might possibly be too severe in 
so universal a censure of the profession. 

XXXV. But the case is verv differeut with regard 
to divines; the eloquence of the pulpit, beyond all con- 
troversy, has a much larger extent. 

Their business is not to plead a cause of right and 
wrong before a wise and skilful judge, but to address all 
the ranks of mankind, the high and low, the wise and the 
unwise, the sober and the vicious, and persuade them all 
to pursue and persevere in virtue with regard to them- 
selves,™ justice and goodness with regard to their neigh- 
bours, and piety towards God. These are affairs of ev- 
erlasting importance, and most of the persons to whom 
these addresses are made, are not wise and skilful judg- 
es, but are influenced and drawn strongly to the contra- 
ry side by their own sinful appetites and passions, and 
bribed or biassed bv the corrupt customs of the world. 

There is therefore a necessity not only of a clear and 
faithful representation of things to men, in order to con- 
vince their reason and judgment, but of all the skill and 
force of persuasion addressed to the will and the passions. 



AND THEIR USE. 199 

So Tully addressed the whole senate of Rome, and De- 
mosthenes the Athenian people, among whom were ca- 
pacities and inclinations of infinite variety; and therefore 
they made use of all the lightning and thunder, all the 
entreaties and terrors, all the soothing elegancies and 
the flowery beauties of language, which their art could 
furnish Them with . Divines in the pulpit have much the 
same sort of hearers, and therefore they should imitate 
those ancient examples. The understanding indeed 
ought to b? first convinced by the plainest and strongest 
force of reasoning ; but when this is done, all the pow- 
erful motives should be used, which have any just influ- 
ence upon human nature ; all the springs of passion should 
be touched, to awaken the stupid and the thoughtless 
into consideration, to penetrate and melt the hardest 
heart, to persuade €he unwilling, to excite the lazy, to 
reclaim the obstinate, and reform the vicious part of 
mankind, as well as to encourage those who are humble 
and pious, and to support their practice and their hope, 
The tribes of men are sunk into so fatal a degeneracy 
and dreadful distance from God, and from all that is 
holy and happy, that all the eloquence which a preacher 
is master of, should be employed in order to recover the 
world from its .shameful ruin and wretchedness by the 
gospel of our blessed Saviour, and restore it to virtue and 
piety, to God and happiness, by the divine power of this 
gospel. O may such glorious masters of sacred oratory 
never be wanting in the pulpits of the Christian world ! 
XXXVI. Shall I now speak something of my senti- 
ments concerning poesy ? 

As for books of poesy, whether in the learned or in the 
modern languages, they are of great use to be read at 
hours of leisure, by all persons that make any pretence 
to good education or learning, and that for several rea- 
sons. 

1. Because there are many couplets or stanzas writ- 
ten in poetic measures, which contain a variety of mor- 
als or rules f, f practice, relating to tne common pruden- 
tials of mankind, as well as to matters of religion ; and 
the poetic numbers (or rhyme, if there be any) add very 
considerable force to the memory. 

Besides, many an elegant and admirable sentiment or 
description of things, which are found among the poets, 
are well worth committing to memory,andthe particular 
measures of verse greatly assist us in recollecting such 



200 OF THE SCIENCES, 

excellent passages, which might sometimes raise our 
conversation from low and groveling subjects. 

2. In heroic verse,but especially in the grander lyrics, 
there are sometimes such noble elevations of thought 
and passion, as illuminate all things around us, and con- 
vey to the soul most exalted and magnificent images 
aud sublime sentiments : these furnish us with glorious 
springs and mediums to raise and aggrandize our con- 
ceptions, to warm our souls, to awaken the better pas- 
sions, and to elevate them to a divine pitch, and that 
for devotional purposes. It is the Lyric ode which has 
shown to the world some of the happiest examples of 
this kind, and I cannot say but this part of poesy has 
been my favourite amusement above all others. 

And for this reason it is, that I have never thought 
the heroic poems, Greek, Latin, or English, which have 
obtained the highest fame in the world, are sufficiently 
diversified, exalted or animated, for want of the inter- 
spersion of now and then an elegiac or lyric ode. This 
might have been done with great and beautiful propri. 
ety, where the poet has introduced a song at a feast, or 
the joys of a victory, or the soliloquies of divine satisfac- 
tion, or the pensive and despairing agonies of distressing 
sorrow. Why should that which is called the most glo- 
rious form of poesy, be bound down and confined to such 
a long and endless uniformity of measures, when it 
should kindle or melt the soul, swell or sink it into all 
the various and transporting changes of which human 
nature is capable ? 

Cowley;' in his unfinished fragment of the Davideis, 
has shown us this way to improvement; and whatever 
blemishes may be found in other parts of that heroic es- 
say, this beauty anri glory of it ought to be preserved for " 
imitation. I am well assured, that if Homer and Virgil 
had happened to practise it, it would have been renown- 
ed and glorified by every critic I am greatly mistaken, 
if this wise mixture of numbers would not be a further 
reach of perfection than they have ever attained to with- 
out it : . let it be remembered, that it is not nature and 
strict reason, but a weak and awful reverence of anti- 
quity, and the vogue of fallible men, that has established 
those Greek and Roman writings as absolute and com- 
plete patterns. In several ages there have been some 
men of learning who have very justly disputed this glo- 
ry, and have pointed to many of their mistakes. 



AND THEIR USE. 201 

3. But still there is another end of reading poesy, and 
perhaps the most considerable advantage to be obtained 
from it by the bulk of mankind, and that is, to furnish 
our tongues with the richest and most polite variety of 
phrases and words upon all occasions of life or religion. 
He that writes well in verse, will often find a necessity 
to send his thoughts in search through all the treasure 
of words that express any one idea in the same lan- 
guage, that so he may comport with the measures, or 
the rhyme of the verse which he writes, or with his own 
most beautiful and vivid sentiments of the thing he de- 
scribes. Now by much reading of this kind, we shall 
insensibly acquire the habit and skill of diversifying our 
phrases upon all occasions, and of expressing our ideas 
in the most proper and beautiful language, whether we 
Write or speak of the things of God or men. 

It is pity that some of these harmonious writers have 
ever indulged any thing uncleanly or impure to defile 
their paper and abuse the ears of their readers, or to of- 
fend against the rules of the nicest virtue and politeness : 
but still amongst the writings of Mr. Dryden, Mr. Pope, 
and Dr. Young, as well as others, there is a sufficient 
choice in our own language, wherein we shall not find 
any indecencv to shock the most modest tongue or ear. 

Perhaps there has hardly been a writer in any nation, 
and I may dare to affirm there is none in our's, has a 
richer and happier talent of painting to the life, or has 
ever discovered such a large and inexhausted variety 
of description, as the celebrated Mr. Pope. If you read 
his translation of Homer's Iliad, you will find almost all 
the terms or phrases in our tongue that are needful to 
express any thing that is grand or magnificent ; but if 
you peruse his Odyssey, which descends much more 
into common life, there is scarce any useful subject of 
discnurse or thought, or any ordinary occurrence, which 
he has not cultivated and dressed in the most proper 
language; and yet still he has ennobled and enlivened 
even the lower subjects with the brightest and most 
agreeable ornaments. 

I should add here also, that if the same author had 
more frequently employed his genius upon divine themes, 
his short poem on the Messiah, and some part of his let- 
ters between Ab°lard and Eloisa, with that ode on the 
dying Christian, &c. sufficiently assure us, that his pen 
would have honourably imitated some of the tender scenes 



202 OF THE SCIENCES, 

of penitential sorrow, as well as the sublimer odes of 
the Hebrew Psalmist, and perhaps discovered to us, in 
a better manner than any other translation has done, 
how great a poet sat upon the throne of Israel. 

4. After all that I have said, there is yet a further 
use of reading poesy ; and that is, when the mind has 
been fatigued with studies of a more laborious kind, or 
when it is any ways unfit for the pursuit of more difficult 
subjects, it mav be, as it were, unbent, and repose itself 
a while on the flowery meadows where the muses dwell. 
It is a very sensible relief to the soul, when it is over 
tired, to amuse itself with the numbers and beautiful 
sentiments of the poets ; and in a little time this agreea- 
able amusement may recover the languid spirits to ac- 
tivity and more important service. 

XXXVII. All this I propose to the world as my best 
observations about reading of verse. But if the question 
were offered to me, Shall a student, of a bright genius, 
never divert himself with writing poesy ? I would an- 
swer, Yes, whea he cannot possibly help it ; a lower 
genius, in mature years, would heartily wish that he had 
spent much more time in reading the best authors of 
this kind, and employed much fewer hours in writing. 
But it must be confessed, or supposed at least, that 
there may be seasons when it is hardly possible for a 
poetic soul to restrain the fancy or quench the flame; 
when it is hard to suppress the exuberant How of lofty 
sentiments, and prevent the imagination from this sort 
of style or language; and that is the only season, I 
think, wherein this inclination should be indulged ; es- 
pecially by persons who have devoted themselves to 
professions of a different kind; and one reason is, be- 
cause what they write in that hour, is more likely to 
carry in it some appearance above nature, some happy 
imitation of the dictates of the muse.* 

XXXVIII. There are other things beside history, 
grammar and languages, rhetoric and poesy, which 
have been included under the name of philological 
knowledge ; such as, an acquaintance with the notions, 
customs, manners, tempers, polity, &c. of the various 
nations of the earth, or the distinct «ects and tribes of 
mankind. This is necessary, in order to understand 

* The muse, in the ancient heathen sense, is supposed to he a goddess ; 
but, in the philosophic sense, it can mean no more than a bright genius, 
with a warm and strong imagination, elevated to an uncommon degree* 



AND THEIR USE. 20& 

history the better ; and every man who is a lawyer or 
a gentleman, ought to obtain some acquaintance with 
these things, without which he can never read history 
to any great advantage, nor can he maintain his own 
station and character in life, with honour and dignity, 
without some insight into them. 

XXXIX. Students in divinity ought to seek a larger 
acquaintance with the Jewish laws, polity, customs, &c. 
in order to understand many passages of the Old Testa- 
ment and the New, and to vindicate the sacred writers 
from the reproaches of Infidels. An acquaintance also 
with many of the Roman and Grecian affairs is needful, 
to explain several texts of scripture in the New Testa- 
ment, to lead sincere inquirers into the true and genu- 
ine sense of the Evangelists and Apostles, and to guard 
their writings from the unreasonable cavils of men. 

XL. The art of criticism is reckoned by some as a 
distinct part of Philology ; but in truth it is nothing eise 
than a more exact and accurate knowledge or skill in 
the other parts of it, and a readiness to apply that 
knowledge upon all occasions, in order to judge well of 
what relates to these subjects, to explain what is ob- 
scure in the authors which we read, to supply what is 
defective, and amend what is erroneous in manuscripts 
or ancient copies, to correct the mistakes of authors 
and editors in the sense of the words, to reconcile the 
controversies of the learned ; and by these means to 
spread a juster knowledge of these things amongst the 
inquisitive part of mankind. 

Every man who pretends to the learned professions, 
if he doth not arise to be a critic himselt in philological 
matters, should be frequently conversing with those 
books, whether dictionaries, paraphrasts, commenta- 
tors, or other critics, which may relieve any difficulties 
he may meet with, and give him a more exact acquain- 
tance with those studies which he pursues. 

And whensoever any person is arrived to such a de- 
gree of knowledge in these tnings as to furnish him well 
for the practice of criticism, let him take great care 
that pride and vanity, contempt of others, with inward 
wrath and insolence, do not mingle themselves with his 
remarks and censures. Let him remember the com- 
mon frailties of human nature, and the mistakes to 
which the wisest man is sometimes liable, that he may- 
practise this art with due modesty and candour. 



<Era§sa®^f 



INTRODUCTION. 

Directions} for the Attainment of useful Knowledge, 
What will be the state of the mind if uncultivated ? 
Who are the persons under the greatest obligations to 

mental improvement ? 
How are correct judgment and reasoning useful to 

persons in humble life ? 
To what exercise do the common duties of society 

oblige all persons ? 
What will be the consequence of an indiscreet deter- 
mination in matters before us ? 
Who are interested in the concerns of a life to come ? 
What is the most important subject on which every 

one should reason correctly ? 
Which are the most suitable opportunities for this duty ? 
What are the necessary duty and interest of every 

person ? 
What is the consequence of acting without thought or 

reason? 
In what respects are we accountable to God ? 
What is the design of logic ? 
In what way have many writers perverted this science ? 

CHAPTER I. 

General Rules for the Improvement of Knowledge. 

Rulje 1. 
Of what should the mind be deeply possessed ? 
What should we review, and think upon seriously ? 
To what exertions will this awaken us ? 

Rule 2. 
What are the considerations which expose us to error 

in our judgment of things ? 
What are the subjects discussed by different authors. 

to which we should carefully attend ? 



question. 205 

Rule 3. 
What will incite to labour and activity in the pursuit of 

knowledge? 
Of what should we take a wide survey ? 
On what should we meditate ? 
What is fabled of Alexander the Great? 
What are the worlds that cannot be conquered? 
What are the questions and difficulties in which we 

should think ? 
On what inquiries should we spend a few thoughts? 
For what reasons should We do this ? 
By what means did Arithmo learn modesty ? 
What is an evidence of improvement ? 
What should we read, and with whom should we be 

acquainted ? 
What effect should this produce ? 
W^hat will be a barrier against all improvement ? 

Rule 4. 
What has proved a temptation to persons of a vigorous 

fancy ? 
What is related of Lucidas and Scintillo ? 
Whose presence and what test should such persons 

avoid ? 

Rule 5. 
Can laborious reading and a strong memory insure true 

wisdom ? 
What may be applied to every sort of learning ? 
How may. the understanding be best improved ? 
How may we justly obtain the reputation of true 

learning ? 
For whom are many of the preceding advices peculiar- 
ly proper ? 

Rule 6. 
Who are the persons unfitted for devotedness to the 

sciences ? 
What are the dispositions that will bring contempt on 

a profession ? 

Rule 7. 
What should animate our daily industry ? 
What has the ingenuity of man brought to light? 
What should a student in divinity not imagine ? 
What truths of the Christian religion still embarrass 

the minds of honest inquirers ? 



206 



QUESTIONS. 



Rule 8. 
How may we attain the knowledge of things which 

relate to our own profession ? 
Who are the persons, whose opinions of men and 

books are disregarded ? 
On what subjects should we not pretend to form a 
judgment ? 

Rule 9. 
In what particulars should we daily call ourselves to 

an account? 
What was the rule considered sacred amongst the 
Pythagoreans ? 

Rule 10. 
By what means may we fix our opinions and form a 

correct judgment ? 
What are the inconveniencies of a dogmatical spirit? 

Rule 11. 
What is an evidence of humility united with courage ? 
Into what mistake may a wise man suddenly fall ? 

Rule 12. 
How should we conduct so as to raise our judgment su- 
perior to that of the vulgar ? 
How may fancy and humour distress us ? 
What is the description of a humourist ? 

Rule 13. 

What is the spirit and conduct calculated to lead us 
into error ? 

What are the consequences of jesting and foolish mer- 
riment ? 

Rule 14. 

What is that indulgence which perverts the mind in 
pursuit of truth? 

What will follow an abandonment of religion ? 

Who are the characters given up to strong delusions ? 

Rule 15. 
Against what should we carefully watch ? 
What is the advice of Solomon ? 
What is the course which should lead us to fear the 

displeasure of God? 

Rule 16. 
For what should we supplicate the Father cf lights ? 
What should be our thoughts of the Author of our 

being ? 
To what does Christianity obligate a student ? 



QUESTIONS. 207 

CHAPTER II. 

Observation, Reading, Instruction by Lectures, 
Conversation, and Study, compared. 

What are the five eminent means of knowledge } 

What is observation ? 

What may be called experience, and experiment ? 

How is the art of reading defined ? 

How are lectures described, and what are their uses ? 

What is conversation ? 

What is included in meditation or study, and what are 
their benefits ? 

What are the advantages of observation ? 

How may the mind be improved by reading ? 

How are public or private lectures rendered profitable? 

In what way does conversation tend to mental im- 
provement ? 

What is indispensable in the acquisition of knowledge ? 

What are the advantages of thought and reasoning ? 

How may the correct sentiments of others become 
properly our own ? 

What is the difference between hearing and study ? 

CHAPTER III. 

Rules relating to Observation, 

What are some of the methods by which we may en- 
large our knowledge ? 

How should the curiosity of the young be encouraged ? 

In what way can useful thinking be promoted ? 

From what should we keep our minds free, and why? 

In what circumstances are envy, pride and self-flattery 
apparent ? 

What is the curiosity which ought to be suppressed, 
and why ? 

What should be our object, in our observation of per- 
sons and their conduct ? 

What are the thoughts, which should for the most part 
be secreted ? 

By what good old rule may our conversation be regu- 
lated? 

What are the best means of establishing correct gen- 
eral theories ? 

CHAPTER IV. 

■Of Books and Reading. 
What useful remarks are made on books ? 



208 QUESTION. 

How may the reading of a student be directed most 
profitably ? 

What is a good rule in the study of books of importance? 

By what method may the reading of the same book by 
three or four persons be rendered beneficial to each ? 

What is another method by which perbons engaged in 
the same study may be profited ? 

In reading or in conversation, what should be our chief 
business ? 

What should be our practice, after going through one 
course of a science? 

By what means may the plans of some books be im- 
proved ? 

What advantages may be derived from making an in- 
dex to a valuable book which has none ? 

What remarks on authors will enrich the understand- 
ing? 

How may that reading be described, which is not at- 
tended with advances in true knowledge ? 

What are the directions by which we may judge just- 
ly and reason correctly concerning the valuable works 
which we may peruse ? 

What ought to be our determinations in the examina- 
tion of human authors ? 

What are the three important things to be observed in 
our reading ? 

In the reading of practical treatises, what should be 
our conduct ? 

What is of more consequence than the richest treas- 
ures of mere speculative knowledge ? 

When one person reads to several, what are the ideas 
on which remarks should be made ? 

What are the passages, &c. which require a private 
review ? 

W r hat is worthy of remark respecting the Tatler, Ad- 
dison's Spectator, &c. 
Of what utility are dictionaries, &c. of several sorts ? 
To what two temptations are superficial readers liable? 
Who is deplorably poor in his understanding? 
CHAPTER V. 

Judgment of Books. 
How may we be assisted in our judgment of a book ? 
By what rule may we safely reject the production of 
an author ? 



QUESTIONS. 2Q9 

In judging of books, what are the most common mis- 
takes ? 

What noble principles do those infidels lay aside, who 
jest with the Bible ? 

How may we be qualified to judge of a particular sub- 
ject? 

After having become masters of a particular theme, to 
what mistake in judgment are we liable ? 

Who are the persons that obtrude their opinions on 
subjects above their capacity ? 

Who may be named as another sort of judges ? 

What is a mischievous principle in judging of books ? 

What is the more noble example which Horace would 
give us ? 

What does Roscommon say of Homer? 

What are some evidences of the base passion of envy ? 

How may this invidious humour be counteracted ? 

What is a peculiar excellence of Sir Richard Steele's 
essay, called the Christian Hero ? 

What may be reasonably demanded of little, ill-natured 
critics ; and why ? 

What is a very frequent fault in our judgment upon 
books ? 

In what way should we speak of the writings of the 
Archbishop of Cambray ? 

What should we remember respecting this great man ? 

What may be said of the poesy of Casimere ? 

What is the general character of Milton's Paradise 
Lost? 

By what considerations should we be influenced in judg- 
ing of a man, who censures or commends a book ? 

CHAPTER VI. 

Of living Instructions and Lectures, of Teachers and 
Learners. 

How are the advantages of a tutor's instructions ap- 
parent ? 

What are the benefits of a plurality of tutors ? 

What are some of the circumstances which disqualify 
a man for the office of an instructer? 

What are the qualifications, temper and conduct ne- 
cessary to constitute a good tutor ? 

Iu what way should the learner improve the precepts 
of his tutor ? 

What is the behaviour becoming a student ? 
S 2 



210 QUESTIONS. 

What should be the student's opinion of his instructed; 

and with what disposition should he make known 

his doubts and scruples ? 
What is a frequent and growing folly ? * 
Of what two extremes are youth in danger ? 
What is the duty of a learner to his teacher ? 

CHAPTER VII. 

Of learning a Language, 

How are the living languages distinguished from the 
dead? 

What directions are necessary in learning a language ? 

What is the best plan of a grammar for learning the 
Latin tongue ? 

By what means may the most rapid progress be made ? 

What are the advantages of conversing in a language 
to be studied ? 

What is a most useful exercise for boys ? 

What may be fairly objected against the teaching of 
Latin by the heathen poets, as Ovid, Horace, Juve- 
nal, &c. ? 

After the learning of a language, what should be our 
practice? and what is the disposition common to a 
critic, against which we should watch ? 
CHAPTER VIII. 

Of inquiring into the Sense and Meaning of any Wri- 
ter or Sfteaker, and especially the sense of the Sa- 
cred Writings. 

What is the first rule to direct us in understanding a 
writer or speaker ? 

What is the second ? 

What is the third ? 

What is the fourth ? 

What is the fifth ? 

What is the sixth? 

What is the seventh ? 

What is the eighth ? 

What is the ninth ? 

What is the tenth? 

What is the eleventh ? 

What should we remember? and of "what should we 
maintain an awful sense ? 

CHAPTER IX. 

Rules of Improvement by Conversation. 
By what means may conversation be rendered improving ? 



QUESTIONS. 2H. 

In what respects may company become salutary? 
How may we gain improvement from those with whom 

we meet ? 
Why should we not confine our conversation to one sort 

of company ? 
How may conversation enlarge our minds ? 
What should be our endeavour in mixed company ? 
With what should we not be provoked ; and why ? 
How may we learn the narrowness of our own minds ? 
What is a great advantage in the pursuit of knowledge ? 
How may conversation, in social parties, become valu- 
able? 
What should be the conduct of a hearer, whilst one of 

the company expresses his opinion ? 
For what reason should we avoid prejudice against a 

plain style ? 
What is the best method to obtain an explanation of 

obscure expressions ? 
By what means may objections be made with modesty I 
How should a candid hearer express his differences in 

opinion ? 
Of what should we maintain a constant sense ? 
What are the advantages of confessing our imperfect 

information ? 
Why should we withhold our decisions in company ? 
On what occasion may it be proper to repel a bold ad- 
vocate of error; and why ? 
For what reasons should we avoid a disputatious temper? 
What is calculated to bar the understanding against 

salutary convictions ? 
What are the best methods of gaining improvement, or 

of communicating instruction in conversation ? 
What is the affectation we should avoid ? 
How may a confused conversation be reduced to order? 
What are the things we should not charge upon others; 

and why ? 
What are the evils in conversation which are enemies 

to friendship ? 
What are the best means of counteracting ungenerous 

reproaches ? 
To what manner of conversing should we be inured, 

and on what occasions ? 
What ought to be the character of .our chosen com. 

panions ? 



£12 QUESTIONS. 

What are those infirmities in a person, which render 

him unsuitable as an associate ? 
What should the contemplation of these evil qualities 

teach us ? 
On retiring from company, what should be our thoughts? 
What are the errors of conversation, which we should 

notice for the purpose of avoiding ? 
What are the advantages of an easy manner of address? 

CHAPTER X. 

Of Disputes. 

How is the practice of disputing described ? 

In what way may disputes arise ; and how are they 
pursued ? 

What may be the consequences of disputes in conver- 
sation ? 

What should be observed in attempts to convince one 
of error ? 

In what should disputants endeavour to agree; and why ? 

From what should the question be cleared, and how il- 
lustrated ? 

Why is such a course necessary ? 

How may disputants be kept to the point of inquiry ? 

Of what evil is the pride of man the spring ? 

What is the bane of improvement, and how does it op- 
erate ? 

With what design should we enter on a debate ? 

Against what should we watch narrowly in a dispute ; 
and why ? 

Give some examples of unguarded conversation. 

How do the purposes of God afford encouragements to 
prayer ? 

By what caution should we guard against the subtle 
errors of men ? 

What are some of the false opinions relative to true 
virtue ? 

By what means does the great Master of the human 
family instruct us in virtue ? 

How may an opponent be silenced or convinced? 

When may the passions misguide the judgment ? 

What are the three sorts of disputation ? 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Socratical Way of Disputation, 
From whom does the Socratical method of dispute de- 
rive its name ? 



i 



QUESTIONS. 213 

Give an example of the Socratical way of disputation ? 
What are the advantages of this method ? 
What is the method nearly a-kin to this ? 
What would be a happy manner of framing Christian 
catechisms ? 

CHAPTER XIL 

Of Forensic Disputes. 

What is a general definition of forensic disputes ? 

On what occasions is this practice used ? 

What is the method of proceeding ? 

Where the question consists of several parts, what is 

the method ? 
What is usual before the final sentence ; and why ? 
How may forensic disputes be rendered useful ? 
What was the practice amongst the Roman youth, as 

suggested by Juvenal ? 

CHAPTER XIIL 

Of Academic ', or Scholastic Disputation* 

What are the common methods of dispute in schools of 
learning ? 

To what do the laws of disputation relate ? 

What are the laws obliging the opponent ? 

What are those which oblige the respondent ? 

What are those which oblige both disputants ? 

Enumerate some advantages attained by academical 
disputation. 

What are some of its inconveniences ? 

What are the general directions for scholastic disputes? 

How should the tutor or moderator direct the disputa- 
tion advantageously ? 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Of Study, or Meditation. 

What has been proved and established ? 

To a good genius and happy judgment, what is an in- 
dispensable addition in the acquisition of wisdom ? 

What is the first direction for youth in the pursuit of 
study ? 

In the science of theology, what is a common danger ? 

By what absurd tests have truth and heresy been tried ? 

What are the practices which may discourage young 
students? 



214 QUESTIONS. 

By what means may the difficulties of study be sur- 
mounted ? 

What is the pursuit calculated to distract the under- 
standing ? 

How may our diversions be made to enrich our minds? 

What is a good rule in the pursuit of valuable knowl- 
edge ? 

By what rule should we exert our care and skill in the 
discussion of subjects ? 

What advantages flow from this one direction ? 

What are the evils which may flow from an injudicious 
fondness for a particular science ? 

What is the fault of some little souls ; and its conse- 
quences ? 

What is the science which should always stand chief? 
and why ? 

What should be the plan of our studies as to time ? 

How may fatigue in study be avoided ? 

In the beginning of a new study, what should be our 
conduct ? 

What course should we pursue, when we cannot obtain 
all the evidence which we desire ? 

In what way should speculative studies be applied to a 
practical use ? 

What are the things in which it may be unnecessary 
to change ? and why ? 

CHAPTER XV. 

. Of fixing the Attention* 

How may we obtain satisfactory evidence of truth, and 
avoid mistakes ? 

What is the effect of attachment to a particular study? 

What are the uses and dangers of emblematical rep- 
resentations ? 

Describe the authors whose works should be studied. 

What are the things which render any place unsuita- 
ble as a place of study ? 

For what reasons should our decisions sometimes be 
withheld ? 

In our studies, what are the dangers from our passions 
and appetites ? 

When may any passion of the soul be salutary in our 
inquiries ? 

How may the mind be fixed and engaged in the search 
of truth ? 



^VESTlONS. 215 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Of Enlarging the Capacity of the Mind. 

What are the three things which constitute a capa < 

cious mind ? 
Who are the persons of a narrow and contracted habit 

of soul ? 
Mention some of the facts, at the relation of which 

such persons stand aghast. 
In what way is it best to commence the instruction of 

such? 
Of what use may be the reading of Milton's Paradise 

Lost? 
Where may we find the most sublime ideas and the 

most elevated language ? 
How will an enlargement of our minds lead us to con- 
template the glory of God and his Son ? 
Describe the second evidence of a noble capacity of 

mind. 
How may narrow views be eradicated ? 
How may free conversations with persons differing from 

us, improve our minds ? 
What are some of the truths in astronomy and natural 

philosophy which astonish the unlearned ? 
What is the best cure of this ignorance ? 
Describe the third evidence of a noble capacity of mind ? 
What are some of the inconveniencies of a narrow mind, 

in relation to religion, human prudence, civil govern- 
ment, &c? 
Who are the persons that ought never to set up for 

scholars ? 
What makes a great man ? 
What are the six general rules by which the capacity 

of the mind may be increased ? 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Of Improving the Memory. 

Describe the memory, and its advantages. . 

How may the judgment be distinguished from the 



memory 



What is a good rule to persons of all capacities ? 
What are some of the infirmities of genius and memory t 
What constitutes a wealthy and a happy mind ? 
What are some of the jovs that do not belong to mor- 
tality ? 



216 QUESTIONS. 

At what age does the memory grow, and how may it 

be improved or injured ? 
What are the four qualifications of a good memory ? 
How will a due exercise of the memory improve it ? 
What is the first general rule for improving the 

memory ? 
What is the second ? 
What is the third? 
What is the fourth? 
What is the fifth ? 
What is the sixth? 
What is the seventh? 
What is the eighth? 
What is the ninth? 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Of Determining a Question. 

In considering a question, what should be our first 
thoughts ? 

How may the inquiry and argument of a question be 
rendered plain and easy ? 

How may the obscurity of a question be removed ? 

What is the advantage of the clear statement of a 
question ? 

If the question relate to an axiom, what are the truths 
connected with its solution ? 

When may a proposition be called an axiom ? 

In searching after truth, what is a good rule ? 

Describe the persons who build their opinions upon in- 
sufficient grounds. 

In deciding a question of difficulty, what may be called 
instances of a partial examination ? 

By what indulgence may we be led into gross errors ? 

By what follies may the mind receive a false bias ? 

What is the zeal against which we should watch ; and 
why ? 

Why should jest and ridicule be avoided in our re- 
searches ? 

What are inefficient methods of conviction? 

What is a profane insolence, and its perils? 

Of what should we be aware in reading controversial 
productions ? 

When should a question not be determined by a single 
argument; and why? 

Of what shpuld we take a full survey in a subject ? 



QUESTIONS. 217 

What is a good rule by which our assent to a proposi- 
tion &houid be proportioned ? 

Wiutt art sume of the truths believed with different 
degrees of ssent ? 

On what grounds did our Saviour commend a strong 
faith ? 

How may we distinguish the duties, which should evi- 
dently bind our cor.sciencesj from other duties ? 

Wh>t are three good rules in judging of probabilities? 

By what means and in what particulars should our 
judgments be settled ? 

In considering the gospel, what should we remember; 
and for what rfeasons ? 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Of inquiring into Cannes and Effects* 

In our inquiries into the causes of an effect, what 
method should we follow ? 

How sh uld we proceed in relation to natural philoso- 
phy ? 

How in relation to events in the moral world ? 

In our i .quiries into te effects of a cause, what meth- 
od should we take ? 

How do physicians improve their skill ? 

By what means may a preacher exrend his usefulness ? 

What must we distinguish in relation to causes and 
effects ? 

CHAPTER XX. 

Of the Sciences, and their Une in particular Pro - 

fessions. 
Of what use is system, in the learning of a science ? 
What is the remark of an ingenious writer ? 
Why is it that we have so many half scholars ? 
After & good acquaintance with the compendium of a 

science, how should we proceed ? 
In what respects may a tutor be advantageous I 
When should the languages be studied ? and why ? 
What are above the capacities or children ? 
What are the sciences pleasing to young persons? 
What are the three reasons that render the study of 

these sciences easy ? 
How may certain sciences be preserved in the memory? 
Of what should every scholar attain, some general ideas? 
What parts of a science should be studied first ? 
U 



21& QUESTIONS,, 

What should we learn from the connexion of the set* 

ences ? 
What are the sciences, a moderate knowledge of which 

are of practical use? 
What was the sentence of Dr. Cheyne respecting some 

mathematical studies ? 
W r hat are the advantages of a knowledge of elegant 

problems in the mathematics ? 
Why is the study of history essential to politicians and 

ecclesiastics ? 
How is the study of sacred biography useful ? 
What are the uses of logic and metaphysics ? 
Whet are the benefits of a knowledge #of natural phi* 

losophy ? 
How is this science necessary to a physician ? 
Why necessary to a lawyer or a judge ? 
In what way useful to a divine ? 
How may the knowledge of animal nature and of the 

rational soul be of practical use ? 
Of what does natural religion consist, as comprised in 

two parts ? 
How does natural religion harmonize with revealed ? 
What is a necessary caution on this subject? 
To what should the study of natural religion lead us ? 
What is meant by the civil law ? 
What were the first grounds of this law ? 
What is a more important law, and its uses ? 
What are the philological studies? 
Why is the Latin necessary to the student in law ? 
In what way have the priesthood of Rome, the lawye^ 

and physicians abused the people ? 
W T hy are Greek and Latin necessary to phyicians * 
How will the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew assist the 

studies of the Christian minister ? 
What are the chief uses of the Syriac and Arabic 

tongues ? 
What of the Chaldean ? 

What is grammar, and its necessity ? 

What are the three parts ot rhetoric ? 

By what means may this art be attained ? .. 

Why should it be laid aside by pleaders at the bar ? 

What are the reasons which justify its use,.bv CttriS-- 
tiaa ministers? 

By what reasons is' the reading of pcesy enforced ? 



ftUESTIONS. 219 

When may a genius indulge himself in writing pcesy ? 
What studies promote a knowledge of history ? 
What is the knowledge which students in divinity ought 

to seek ; and why ? 
What is the art of criticism, and its uses ? 
How may our studies be facilitated ? 
Of what should a good critic be aware, that modesty 

and candour may accompany his criticisms ? 



CONTENTS, 

Paggj.. 

Preface, -^------3 

The Introduction^ 5 

Chap. 1. General rules for the improvement of 
jkncwierdge, - 7 

Chap II. Five methods of improving described 
and compared, viz Observation, reading, instruc- 
tion by lectures, conversation, and study, with 
their several advantages and defects, - - 21 

Chap. III. Of observation, either by the senses or 
the mind, ------- 31 

Chap. IV. Of reading and books, with directions 
relating thereto, ------ 3? 

Chap. V. The judgment of books, both approba- 
tion and censure, ------ 47 

Chap. VI. Of living instructions and lectures, of 
teachers and learners, 57 

Chap VII. Of learning a language, particularly 
the Latin, ------- 6! 

Chap. VIII. Of inquiring into the sense and meaning 
of any writer or speaker, whether human or divine, 69 

Chap. IX. Of conversation and profiting by ir, and 
cf persons fit or unfit for free Converse, - - 7 2 

Chao. X. Of disputes, and general rules relating 
to them, -------- 8(5 

Chap. XL Of Socratical disputation, by question 
and answer, ------- 97" 

Chap, XII. Of forensic disputes in courts of jus- 
tice or public assemblies, - - - - 99 

Chap. XIII. Of academic or scholastic disputes, and 
tile rules of them, and how far they may be useful, 1G1 

Ch^p. XIV. Of study, or meditation, and the final 
determination of things by our own judgment, 110 

Cnap. XV. Of fixing the attention, - - 120 

Chap. XVI. Of enlarging the capacity of the mind, 123 

Chap. XVII. Of the memory, and the improve- 
ment thereof, ------ 139 

Chap- XVIII Of determining a question \ several 
cafutioas about it ; of reason and revelation ; of 
argument and ridicule; of assent oily in propor- 
tion to evidence, Sec. - - - - - 159 
Chap. XIX. Of inquiring into causes and effects, 1T5 
Chap. XX. Ot the sciences, and their use in par- 
ticular professions, - r - - -178 



s • \\ . 



V* 



V 






.+ 



^ J 










s$ 




f, 



*r v*w* 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 501 1 



52 A 







